Friday, November 30
I woke up and did a vegetable juice. There was some older, rubbery, browned celery which I juiced up – about 400 stalks. Bad, bad decision. This wrecked me for the next 24+ hours. I believe I had some form of food poisoning. I should have thrown up earlier on Friday. I tried in the evening but I was only able to return an insignificant small quantity. I was either in the bathtub or in the fetal position most of the day on Friday and early AM Saturday because of body aches and chills.
Saturday, December 1
I woke up feeling significantly better but still about 75% of normal. I took a restless nap in the late morning but rested most of the day. I took an easy 1.5 mile to continue my running streak. I spent 5 hours at Craig’s freshman basketball tournament mostly working the scoreboard. I watched his game but he didn’t play. (He is physically behind the other boys. He has the body of a 7th grader competing against boys who in many cases are already in men’s bodies.) Dinner was one half of a hotdog, half of salty soft pretzel and an apple.
After Rebbie and I finished the last basketball game we went to the Mike and Jena Oehler’s Christmas party. Desserts were served and we played a few games. Both Reb and I liked the crowd. I was anxious that I was staying up too late and worried about how to approach my big race given my stomach sickness and the forecasted heavy rains and heavy winds. I got to sleep about 11:15 PM.
Sunday, December 2
My big day started at 3:30 AM. When I went to bed Saturday night I held out hope that that the storm, which was forecasted to bring 25 mph headwinds promptly at the 7:00 a.m. start time and then seize around noon, would finish early and become gentler. I woke up, checked the weather, and found that 7:00 a.m. was now scheduled to have 35 mph winds. I heard the wind howling like it seldom does here in Rocklin. I did not want to be outside. I found out later the winds blew down both branches and even a roof tile at our house.
Although, I didn’t want to start my day so early, my nerves would not allow any more sleep. I juiced beets, spinach and carrots. I also ate a small bowl of cereal. I worked on my iTunes playlist. I packed my two bags and left for the Zimmerman’s house. On the way, I downed a Zip fizz energy drink which has lots of caffeine and b-12 vitamins. I arrived there with tons of nervous energy at 5:30. We small talked and strategized our approaches with Abby and Todd. We were dropped off at the start by our awesome support team of Janet Zimmerman and Todd Farmer in Folsom at 6:40. The start of the race was very subdued this year. I may have missed the party by focusing at the goal and listening to my tunes, but I didn’t hear any music other than the national anthem. No balloon arch and not a lot of that silly, giddy atmosphere you generally get before a marathon. It was a grimly determined, “Let’s do this thing,” feeling in the area where I started. I ran with the 3:25 pace group led by Lee McKinley, a very accomplished ultra marathoner. The lasting visual was looking at the streetlights’ glow and seeing the rain coming into our faces at a 45 degree angle.
The gun sounded and it was actually kind of scary because of the harsh conditions. I spread my elbows out wide and power walked until I hit the starting gate. I was determined to stick to my goal of getting my Boston Qualifier time of sub 3:25! Get to work! Stay on plan! Don’t fall.
The first mile was fast and downhill, but everyone was running in tight little steps to be careful of wet manhole covers, deep puddles, and because of, yeah, the wind. We were running into 30 mph wind. It was even more challenging because of the bozos that start way close to the starting line even though they have no chance of breaking 4 hours. It causes unnecessary congestion and it’s a safety issue in conditions like today. I was slalom running as I passed 40 or so in the opening mile.
My strategy was not to run ahead of my Boston Qualifier time of 3:25. I knew I would feel very good at times but I wanted to run a smart disciplined race. I was executing and I was committed to stay on pace. The biggest challenge of the first 5 miles was to keep from falling down or knocking somebody down. It was very crowded and slippery. Only after 5 miles did it start to spread out a bit. I followed my plan on pace and nutrition. I took a gu pack every 45 minutes. I also took one electrolyte pill before the race. I took another 2 at 1:30. This seems to work well for my sweat rate. I have used it my training runs as well. I only drank 4-8 ounces at the aide stations and I only used about 60% of the stations. However, I still walked when I drank and ate the GU. This caused me to fall behind the pace group. It would take about 2-3 minutes to catch back up. I preferred running tightly clustered to my group because I felt it was easier to battle the winds. We ran in this rigid formation and in reality it was more likely a mental advantage rather than a significant draft.
Everything was going well. I was focused on my plan and my music. I was in my zone. My first mental sticky note hit me at mile 15, I remember thinking that I could run forever at this effort level and pace of 7:48 per mile. I wanted to make a note because history taught me that the feeling would not last. Because I felt so good I wanted see just how long the feeling would last. Only one mile later I was in the “endure to the end” frame of mind. I wasn’t hurting per say, but it was now work and it was no longer effortless or even fun.
I plugged along until mile 20. When it hit 20 I threw away my Under Armor t shirt and went after it. Macho Man Time! I wanted to pull a little ahead of the 3:25 pace group to see how things would go from there. For the next 6.2 miles things progressively became tougher and tougher. From miles 20-24 I would pull ahead of the 3:25 pace group and they would reel me back in. I never trailed behind them but I wasn’t able to put them out of sight in my rear view mirror. I took off the music about mile 22 to use every ounce of mental energy to focus on finishing strong. Pain is weakness leaving the body! During the last 10K of the marathon I played mental games with myself. I wanted my goal so, so badly. I kept the expectation in check but just focusing on the task of staying ahead or even with the pace group. I knew that my goal just might not be in the cards today. I just kept telling myself to not get behind the pace group and to keep my expectations in check. There were 3-4 very tough painful surges to get me back on the heels of the group. By mile 24 I was fighting with everything I had. The pain was about an 8.5 out of 10 but I knew that I only had another 15 minutes to endure. The reward was reaching a 10 year old goal. The pace group was now down from 20ish during the majority of the first 20 miles to about 5 at 24 miles. Every part of my body was in pain: leg muscles, chest, trap muscles, foot blisters, chaffing, etc. Pain is temporary. Pride is forever. I ignored it. At mile 26 I was started to tail a few yards from the pacer when I saw Todd Farmer and Janet cheering. What a huge mental lift. I found another gear and awkwardly increased my pace turning it into a funny looking half sprint as approached the u turn to the finish shoot. With .25 left I knew I would hit my time. However, I also wanted to a gun time of under 3:25. As I approached the finish line the last number I saw was 3:24:50. I figured I easily finished within my BQ time. My official times were: chip 3:24:15 and gun 3:25:00. I hit my goal after 10 years of long distance running!
I met up with Todd Farmer and Janet. We cheered Abby. I then went to the car with Janet to address my hands and feet which had lost feeling, had turned white and were killing me. After 30 minutes of running the heater, the blood returned.
We returned to the Zimmerman’s for a nice post race party. I texted my running group to share my success. Doug Kelley, after congratulating me, informed for that the CIM website had my time wrong. My chip apparently didn’t register at the start. It officially had my gun and chip time at 3:25:01. No biggie except that time if not corrected would have kept me from Boston by one second.
Overall, WOW, what a great day and great experience! I had put the time and work in and I didn’t let the circumstances dictate my destiny. VEGGIES!
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