Last Sunday was the Denver Rock-N-Roll Marathon and the weather was perfect. It was around 45 degrees at the start, and for the most part it stayed cooled. Towards the end it heated up a bit though. I went into this race thinking that I may have to cut it off at the half. I had strained my hamstring 2 weeks before and it was still giving me problems. I ran one time during those 2 weeks, and that didn’t go too well.
I met up that morning with my fellow Qi Runners. We have been training together most of the summer and now it was crunch time. I wrapped my leg that morning with K Tape, put on some compression shorts, and then an elastic wrap. If I could have, I would have told my doctor to meet me at the start line with a shot of steroids or whatever to shoot in my leg.
We started out and surprisingly my leg felt good, and I was chatting away with my fellow Qi runners. There was Molly, Mark, Brandi, Zach, and Chris. The only one that had run a marathon before was Zach. After a couple of miles, I was still feeling great, and then I look around and the Qi runners were gone. I guess I had felt so good that I picked up my pace a bit and left them behind. Oh well. It got to be about mile 4, and I felt the bowels start to wake up and tell me that it’s time to take a crap. (really, it’s leave a crap, not take one) I had already gone twice that morning, but I knew that the cleansing one was still to come. There were a few times along the way that I saw some port-o-potty’s, but they had lines. Finally at about mile 6, I couldn’t take it much more and I saw a few port-o-potty’s with not many people in line. When it came my turn I went in, sat down, and did some colon clensin’. Wow. Sorry to have to share this, but I really need to find a way to stop this from happening. There have been too many times that this has happened in a race, and I’m getting a little bit sick of it. I’m sure if I tweaked my diet a bit, it may help, but I’m thinking of something easier like an enema.
After that whole scene, I was back out there and running again. My leg still felt good, and I was cruising at about a 9 minute per mile pace. Just before the 12 mile mark, there was the break where the half marathoners would go straight, and the full marathoners would turn left. I felt good still so I decided I was going to go for it. Once I did, there was no going back, and no quitting. I had to finish.
The course itself was really nice. Some interesting scenery (although I’ve seen it all before), and most of all we were running through neighborhoods and parks where there was shade! No overheating so far! But then at about mile 14 I noticed that I was slowing down. My leg felt okay, but I was wearing out. I think that not running at all (except for a slow 3 mile run) was catching up to me. Or maybe I was not hydrated enough. With the cool weather and the shade, you get to feel that you don’t need as much water as normal. I think that was my main problem. But I continued on. Around mile 16, Mark and Chris caught up to me and ran with me for a bit before they took off. Was I really that slow, or were they that much stronger? Mile 20 came and at that point I’m thinking “you got this. It’s only 6 more miles. That’s like a 10K!” I had the right attitude, but my body had other ideas. My leg finally said “that’s it, we’re done”. It hurt.
Why couldn’t the race end there? I should start a new race myself, and just make it 20 miles. So I limped along kind of like Chester on Gunsmoke only I didn’t have a cowboy hat. I started doing walking for 2 minutes, running for 2 minutes, walking for 2 minutes. At hat point, my visions of a 4 hour marathon went down the toilet much like my bathroom break at mile 6. I know that I should be able to break 4 hours, and it’s frustrating when I don’t. There have been injuries and weather issues, but you would think that one time I would be able to do it.
I finally reached the point in the race near the end where the crowds are out there really cheering you on. People are high five-ing you, and girls are lifting their shirts up (ok not really, I think I was delirious) and you feel that final bit of adrenalin kick in. Crossing the finish line in a marathon is something that I’ve done 6 times now, and even though it was not a good race for me, there is nothing like that feeling you get when you finish. That never get’s old.
Wear running tights. The only way I will do that is if I wear regular shorts over the tights. I like the compression, but I don’t like showing off Mr. Winke.
