I finished the Detroit Marathon!!!! (added a race report)
Today was the big day downtown. One of goals pre-op was to bike a century after I did that in June I started thinking about running the Detroit marathon. I signed up for it in August and have been training hard ever since. I believe the first time I ran was back around Christmas when at the end my session I got maybe 1/4 of the way around the track. I decided that my goal for today was 5 hours but really thought 5:15/5:30 was more realistic. Wouldn't you know it, I came in at 4:58:52 -- just under that goal!!!! i felt fresh at the half-way point and knew I was going to make it. It's tough, not gonna lie on that one, but it's a mental game. I kept right with my 5 hour pace leader the whole way, well until mile 25 when she said she was slowing down and I should "go for it" and started to do the last push. I was actually surprised that for a lot of the race it was just the 2 of us, we'd pick up people here and there but for probably 17 miles it was just us in that group. I don't think I'd have been able to pace myself without her! My bib number was 7385 if you want to look up my splits or see the pictures (probably on there in a couple of days I was told)
Even though I haven't been too active in this forum the advice some of you gave me and have posted were invaluable. Thanks for the advice, it got me to that finish line feeling strong!
--Sax
Even though I haven't been too active in this forum the advice some of you gave me and have posted were invaluable. Thanks for the advice, it got me to that finish line feeling strong!
--Sax
I've never written one of these things and I know I talked a to my parents and Jamie about the race and what I saw/did and how I felt. Here's an attempt to put things in a coherent fashion for all of you:
First here's a links of my official times: http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=44356196&r sID=71274.
So Saturday I went down to my folks . My dad and i went to pick up the packet do the final registration for the marathon and check out the expo. I was expecting to get information about running and marathons and instead it was more like a big market. Some booths were understandable -- a number of exercise stores and the major running brands had booths and displays. Others I was a little perplexed by, one was some dude selling some sort of cooking gizmo another was the sleep number bed. Oh well, it was free and somewhat interesting. After hearing some of the veterans talk I think I might have missed out on some deals on shoes, oh well.
So Saturday night was actually very restful for me, I was in bed around 10:30 and probably asleep by 11. I woke up a little after 5 (actually a normal time for me) and my dad and I left for downtown @ 5:50. I was expecting traffic but was a little surprised at the amount of people/cars my dad just didn't believe it was THAT big. I found my start corral -- yeah we felt a little like sheep at the start and started to stretch. I was planning on running in just a t-shirt and my running shorts but with it being 39 degrees at the start I took an old pair of my dads sleep pants with me. My initial plan was to run with them for about the first 3-5 miles and then discard them on the side of the road. Well things felt warmer than I was expecting so I left them right there at the starting line. The was some live entertainment and the national anthems were sung. They had a spilt start -- the marathons and competitive 1/2 marathon walkers were on one side of the road and it started at 7:10 for us. The half-marathon and relay racers started at 7:15. The ironic thing is that I didn't GET to the starting line until 7:15 lol.
The way you train for a marathon is you do lots and lots of running (of course) with 1 long run a week. The longest I got was around 19.5 miles, I ran out of fluids and just got too loopy for me to feel safe continuing. I knew that I could've gone further and I wouldn't need to worry about safety/finding my way during the marathon. After spending months of running 5-7 days a week you taper way down and the most you run 1 1/2-2 weeks before the marathon is 5 miles with the week before being primarily a couple of 2-4 miles runs and nothing after Thursday. SO....as I sat at the start line I was worried if this taper thing would work and really felt like I should've been doing more running! I was hoping to feel comfortable starting about 4-5 miles in (around the Ambassador Bridge) and just get in my groove. Well the route was so packed with people that it was hard to run at a constant pace, plus with the construction around and on the bridge we were restricted to 1 or 2 lanes on the bridge and actually had to walk most of the uphill portion. I heard some people grumbling but it was what it was and I was just hoping things would thin out and we'd get back on pace.
One of the nice features of the bigger marathons is they offer pace groups and pace leaders. I had talked to the woman who was going to do the 5:00 group and as I was coming off the bridge I finally got caught up with her. Up to that point we were going too fast and were on a 10-minute-mile instead of 11:47-minute-mile as we were supposed to. From that point on I stuck to that pace leader like glue. At mile 8 you enter the Detroit/Windsor tunnel, "the underwater mile". It was neat to run over the bridge and neat to run in the tunnel. Coming out of the tunnel there were lots of people, actually the biggest crowd of the whole race for us 'slower' people:) It was a big boost, but I was feeling great. At this point our pace group was up and down with people, but once we got in the US we got hooked up with some interesting people. One guy was running his 99th marathon. His fastest was sub 3-hour, an incredible feat!! He was probably about 55-60 and still out there doing it! When we hit the half-way point I made a comment to the group that one of my former students was aiming for a 2:20 time (he came in 17th @ 2:27) and that we were actually on target to make it past the half-way point around or a little BEFORE he crossed the finish line, lol.
I was feeling absolutely great at that point, it's gonna sound weird but like I had not been running for 2 1/2 hours at that point. I was having thoughts of grandeur and thinking about leaving the group at the 23 mile mark and trying to finish around 4:45 but thought better of it. The hardest time was probably miles 15-20. Running up the river walk and seeing the bridge to Belle Isle was interesting. I thought I had read that we'd run 1/2 mile on the riverwalk but it sure felt longer, plus everytime I looked at that stupid Belle Isle bridge it NEVER seemed to get any closer.
We entered Belle Isle at mile 17 and left it at mile 20. Ironically by this point in our 'pace group' it was just me and the pace leader, lol. We passed quite a few of the people who ran ahead of us and some of them tried valiantly to stay with us but they had started to fast and just didn't have it left. I still was feeling good but it was really starting to hurt. I looked at my heart rate monitor and realized that I was at around the 3:00/3:15 mark. So far so good, but dear god I STILL HAVE ANOTHER 2 HOURS!!!!!
As we left Belle Isle we ran by the 20 mile marker (yes they have signs at every mile + the major kilometer marks) and I thought, well I'm in virgin territory. I've never run this far and legs PLEASE don't quit on me now! Unfortunately as you come of the Isle you turn right which is FARTHER away from the finish line :(( . We then went through the Indian Village neighborhood, what a beautiful old neighbor hood. At around mile 21.5 you make the final turn and everything is coming back at that point. Lafeyette rd(blvd?) is the last long stretch and you hit it around mile 22 3/4.
As we passed mile 23 I couldn't believe it was going to happen!! Your whole body is hurting at this point and you see so many people in so many different states. Some are walking in groups having a good time and talking laughing, some are trying hard to stretch out their cramps, some are throwing up, many are very visibly struggling and just trying to get 1 foot in front of the other. I somehow, and I can't explain it, still felt strong! As we passed mile 24 I was starting to get excited. I had a false hope at the 40K mark as I thought it was the sign for mile 25:( Talk about a mental let down!!! The pacer and I had talked quite a bit through the marathon and she said when you get to 24 you start to really feel great and at 25 you just get so excited. Well she was right!!! We were getting more and more people joining the group. I heard the pacer say "I'm going to slow down" and I was about to look back and ask what she said when somebody else did and I heard her say "we're ahead of the pace we need to slow down a little but those two are going strong and they need to keep going." Well that answered the question if I should abandon the 'group' for an extra couple of minutes or not. Had I been with a larger group or consistent group I don't think I'd have left them, but I felt like I was given a green light so I started pulling ahead. There was another guy who stayed with me though I didn't think he was going to make it with me all the way to the finish line. I thought that last 1.2 miles would be easy and go quick, but nothing after that much time/distance goes easy. I was very much zoned in on finishing. As we came into the last stretch I was hearing that once we make the turn you can see the finish and I decided I wanted my ipod off so I can take in the finish line. Even with it off I almost missed my dad yelling at me cheering me on! It felt great to see him and I turned the corner and could see that I only had about 3 more blocks to go. I did hear my nephew screaming for me and saw with my brother cheering me on and then I was at the finish line.
What an experience!!! Stopping was actually one of the hard parts, that and the realization the pain of the run was going to catch up. I'm sore and stiff but actually feel better than I did after ANY of my long runs. I am moving slower than a 'normal' person and I'm sure I look really strange when I walk, but hey I just RAN for 4:58:52!!!!!
First here's a links of my official times: http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=44356196&r sID=71274.
So Saturday I went down to my folks . My dad and i went to pick up the packet do the final registration for the marathon and check out the expo. I was expecting to get information about running and marathons and instead it was more like a big market. Some booths were understandable -- a number of exercise stores and the major running brands had booths and displays. Others I was a little perplexed by, one was some dude selling some sort of cooking gizmo another was the sleep number bed. Oh well, it was free and somewhat interesting. After hearing some of the veterans talk I think I might have missed out on some deals on shoes, oh well.
So Saturday night was actually very restful for me, I was in bed around 10:30 and probably asleep by 11. I woke up a little after 5 (actually a normal time for me) and my dad and I left for downtown @ 5:50. I was expecting traffic but was a little surprised at the amount of people/cars my dad just didn't believe it was THAT big. I found my start corral -- yeah we felt a little like sheep at the start and started to stretch. I was planning on running in just a t-shirt and my running shorts but with it being 39 degrees at the start I took an old pair of my dads sleep pants with me. My initial plan was to run with them for about the first 3-5 miles and then discard them on the side of the road. Well things felt warmer than I was expecting so I left them right there at the starting line. The was some live entertainment and the national anthems were sung. They had a spilt start -- the marathons and competitive 1/2 marathon walkers were on one side of the road and it started at 7:10 for us. The half-marathon and relay racers started at 7:15. The ironic thing is that I didn't GET to the starting line until 7:15 lol.
The way you train for a marathon is you do lots and lots of running (of course) with 1 long run a week. The longest I got was around 19.5 miles, I ran out of fluids and just got too loopy for me to feel safe continuing. I knew that I could've gone further and I wouldn't need to worry about safety/finding my way during the marathon. After spending months of running 5-7 days a week you taper way down and the most you run 1 1/2-2 weeks before the marathon is 5 miles with the week before being primarily a couple of 2-4 miles runs and nothing after Thursday. SO....as I sat at the start line I was worried if this taper thing would work and really felt like I should've been doing more running! I was hoping to feel comfortable starting about 4-5 miles in (around the Ambassador Bridge) and just get in my groove. Well the route was so packed with people that it was hard to run at a constant pace, plus with the construction around and on the bridge we were restricted to 1 or 2 lanes on the bridge and actually had to walk most of the uphill portion. I heard some people grumbling but it was what it was and I was just hoping things would thin out and we'd get back on pace.
One of the nice features of the bigger marathons is they offer pace groups and pace leaders. I had talked to the woman who was going to do the 5:00 group and as I was coming off the bridge I finally got caught up with her. Up to that point we were going too fast and were on a 10-minute-mile instead of 11:47-minute-mile as we were supposed to. From that point on I stuck to that pace leader like glue. At mile 8 you enter the Detroit/Windsor tunnel, "the underwater mile". It was neat to run over the bridge and neat to run in the tunnel. Coming out of the tunnel there were lots of people, actually the biggest crowd of the whole race for us 'slower' people:) It was a big boost, but I was feeling great. At this point our pace group was up and down with people, but once we got in the US we got hooked up with some interesting people. One guy was running his 99th marathon. His fastest was sub 3-hour, an incredible feat!! He was probably about 55-60 and still out there doing it! When we hit the half-way point I made a comment to the group that one of my former students was aiming for a 2:20 time (he came in 17th @ 2:27) and that we were actually on target to make it past the half-way point around or a little BEFORE he crossed the finish line, lol.
I was feeling absolutely great at that point, it's gonna sound weird but like I had not been running for 2 1/2 hours at that point. I was having thoughts of grandeur and thinking about leaving the group at the 23 mile mark and trying to finish around 4:45 but thought better of it. The hardest time was probably miles 15-20. Running up the river walk and seeing the bridge to Belle Isle was interesting. I thought I had read that we'd run 1/2 mile on the riverwalk but it sure felt longer, plus everytime I looked at that stupid Belle Isle bridge it NEVER seemed to get any closer.
We entered Belle Isle at mile 17 and left it at mile 20. Ironically by this point in our 'pace group' it was just me and the pace leader, lol. We passed quite a few of the people who ran ahead of us and some of them tried valiantly to stay with us but they had started to fast and just didn't have it left. I still was feeling good but it was really starting to hurt. I looked at my heart rate monitor and realized that I was at around the 3:00/3:15 mark. So far so good, but dear god I STILL HAVE ANOTHER 2 HOURS!!!!!
As we left Belle Isle we ran by the 20 mile marker (yes they have signs at every mile + the major kilometer marks) and I thought, well I'm in virgin territory. I've never run this far and legs PLEASE don't quit on me now! Unfortunately as you come of the Isle you turn right which is FARTHER away from the finish line :(( . We then went through the Indian Village neighborhood, what a beautiful old neighbor hood. At around mile 21.5 you make the final turn and everything is coming back at that point. Lafeyette rd(blvd?) is the last long stretch and you hit it around mile 22 3/4.
As we passed mile 23 I couldn't believe it was going to happen!! Your whole body is hurting at this point and you see so many people in so many different states. Some are walking in groups having a good time and talking laughing, some are trying hard to stretch out their cramps, some are throwing up, many are very visibly struggling and just trying to get 1 foot in front of the other. I somehow, and I can't explain it, still felt strong! As we passed mile 24 I was starting to get excited. I had a false hope at the 40K mark as I thought it was the sign for mile 25:( Talk about a mental let down!!! The pacer and I had talked quite a bit through the marathon and she said when you get to 24 you start to really feel great and at 25 you just get so excited. Well she was right!!! We were getting more and more people joining the group. I heard the pacer say "I'm going to slow down" and I was about to look back and ask what she said when somebody else did and I heard her say "we're ahead of the pace we need to slow down a little but those two are going strong and they need to keep going." Well that answered the question if I should abandon the 'group' for an extra couple of minutes or not. Had I been with a larger group or consistent group I don't think I'd have left them, but I felt like I was given a green light so I started pulling ahead. There was another guy who stayed with me though I didn't think he was going to make it with me all the way to the finish line. I thought that last 1.2 miles would be easy and go quick, but nothing after that much time/distance goes easy. I was very much zoned in on finishing. As we came into the last stretch I was hearing that once we make the turn you can see the finish and I decided I wanted my ipod off so I can take in the finish line. Even with it off I almost missed my dad yelling at me cheering me on! It felt great to see him and I turned the corner and could see that I only had about 3 more blocks to go. I did hear my nephew screaming for me and saw with my brother cheering me on and then I was at the finish line.
What an experience!!! Stopping was actually one of the hard parts, that and the realization the pain of the run was going to catch up. I'm sore and stiff but actually feel better than I did after ANY of my long runs. I am moving slower than a 'normal' person and I'm sure I look really strange when I walk, but hey I just RAN for 4:58:52!!!!!
Great report Sax! Congratulations!
Cassie
Cassie
"Hard things take time to do. Impossible things take a little longer."
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