Pocatello Marathon
Mile 2: 6.54 A little faster than I wanted but not the
6.50 pace so I will take it.
Mile 3: 6.56 Still not fast enough. Sometime around this time I talked to a young
guy who was wearing a fluorescent green tank-top, and blue running shorts (read
short shorts). He was dressed the part
of a runner and looked like he was doing more or less my pace. He was listening to music and so when I asked
him a question he had to pull his earphone out.
I asked him what pace he was shooting for and he said 7 min pace. I told him that I would be happy with
that. Although, a little later I felt
guilty for saying that because we were hitting five to ten seconds under 7
minutes and I didn’t want him to go faster than his pace just because he was
trying to keep up with me or something like that. Later the table would be turned.
Mile 4: 6.53 Sometime around here two guys came up behind
me that were obviously running together.
These guys looked like they were fit, relaxed, and in control. They were chit-chatting back and forth. One of them was not wearing a shirt and the
other had an Ironman St. George hat on.
One of them kept looking at his watch which appeared to be a GPS watch. I figured by their pace that they had taken
the first three miles easy and were now on pace for three hour marathon so I
decided to keep up with them.
Mile 5: 6.40 Stuck right behind the St. George pair like
glue, they were my pacers if you will.
Mile 6: 6.48 I started to feel a little soreness in my
right quad and thought that that was not a good sign.
Mile 7: 7.16 The first half of the mile was a slight
uphill. It was much harder than I
expected. Consequently I started
thinking about a mid-race decision to slow my pace and try for a seven minute
pace as opposed to that 6.50 pace. I
entertained the thought for a few minutes but decided it was to early to start
bargaining with myself and that I couldn’t start giving into excuses this early
in the race.
Mile 8: 7.29 At the beginning of this mile I took a 30
second bathroom break. This put me
behind fluorescent tank top kid and the St. George Ironman hat pair. When I got out of the bathroom I had to
remind myself that I couldn’t make up the lost time all at once, to keep
everything in control, and make up maybe 5 seconds a mile or so. I could see St. George Ironman pair and
fluorescent tank top boy up there.
Mile 9: 6.46 Down, down down. This downhill was starting to wear on
me. I was looking forward to mile marker
ten because the math would be easy to find out how I was doing on my pace.
Mile 10: 6.45 I was 12 seconds faster than 7 min.
pace. Given ten miles that was close to
a 6:59 pace. It was here that I
officially decided to cut my pace back to 7 min. I didn’t seem to be making any ground on
catching the St. George Ironman pair.
Given that I already was starting to feel a little of the pain, I was
happy to be in front of a 7 min. pace.
During this mile florescent tank top boy popped up from behind. Apparently he had stopped to go to the
bathroom as well. I told him where I was
at, pace wise, and we decided that we were still on track for a 3:02 or 3:03
finish. He started to pull away a little
bit and I just had to let him go. I
decided that I needed to run my own race.
I talked to a guy from Austin Texas.
He had entered that race to get a last minute Boston qualifier. He said however, that he didn’t think he
would make it. He hadn’t been able to
train for the last couple of weeks. A
friend from his running club was from Pocatello and they came out for the
marathon.
Mile 11: 6.47 Talked to two guys who came up behind
me. One said he was shooting for a pace
that was the same as mine and the other one said that he just wanted to
finish.
Mile 12: 6.57 Here I took my first “gu” of the day. It was a chocolate or something and tasted
nasty but I forced it down because there was an aid station coming up and I
wanted to be able to wash it down with some water. After 12 there is a 100 yard uphill and this
was pretty hard and I started to think that a 7 min. pace was not in the cards,
so to speak.
Mile 13: 7.34 Despite the mostly gradual downhill this was
a hard mile and lasted a really long time.
I passed the halfway mark at 1:31.07
Although I was still on a 7 min. pace I knew that I could not sustain it
so I revised my plan and then started doing the math in my head. I figured that if I hit 7.15 miles I could
make 3:08 or 3:09.
Mile 14: 7.08 Had some cool lava rock formations, and I ran
under I-15. This mile was hard. I tried to hit 7.15 but just couldn’t bring
myself to push that pace any harder.
Mile 15: 7.20 This mile was difficult, as well as
everything subsequent. They were long
and lonely miles. Somewhere along this
long stretch I was doing the math one more time. I just couldn’t get the 7.15 down so I
figured that a 7.30 mile would get me to mile 26 at 3:10 and hopefully I could
pick it up the last 1.2 miles and finish with a 3:09.59 which would allow me to
get a Boston qualifier.
Mile 16: 7.34 More difficult than the last.
Mile 17: 7.41 Increasingly difficult.
Mile 18: 7.27 I think it was here that I some of my fan
club. It was very nice of them to come
and support me even though I didn’t have time to stop and chat about how things
were going.
Mile 19: 7.29 There was a downhill here that I no longer
welcomed despite the increased pace.
Mile 20: 7.39 Here I
passed the runners that were standing around waiting for the start of the 10k
race. Oh, how I wanted to stop
running! I was so jealous that all they had
to do was just six point two miles.
Right before mile 21 there was a steep uphill for about 150 meters or
so. This was an absolute killer. There was a guy in front of me that I passed
while on the hill. He was talking to
himself out loud trying to get up the hill and so I joined in and tried to
encourage both of us. At the top of the
hill a lady passed so fast that she was obviously doing the half marathon or
the 10K, probably the 10K. Her family
was there to cheer her on.
Mile 21: 7.49 I tried
to keep up with the 10K lady. I didn’t,
but it helped drag me along, nevertheless.
Mile 22: 7.50 I hit my watch and saw 2:39.09 I did the math
and figured that I had 30 minutes left.
That put my right exactly at 7.30 pace, not counting the last .2 miles. I couldn’t bring myself to consider going
faster than 7.30. I was hoping for a
miracle, that the last 1.2 miles I could kick it in on sheer grit and
determination. This mile was the hardest
up to this point. I put everything I had
into this mile.
Mile 23: 7.31 As I hit my watch for the mile split and saw
that I ran a 7.31 for the last mile, I exclaimed out loud “you have got to be
kidding me!” It was out of exasperation
that I said this. I won the battle for
the mile but lost the war, if you will.
The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was the thought of the
last .2 miles. There was just no
way! At the current pace I would be .2
miles short when I reached the 3:10 cut off.
I had exhausted my repertoire of mental tricks and motivation to keep my
body going. My will was broken. The sense of discouragement was unmistakably
final, all hope was lost. Within about a
quarter of a mile, I could not run anymore.
I tried to. I wanted to. I thought maybe I could just do a jog and
finish out. With the exception of the
aid stations I had never walked in a marathon before, and I didn’t want this to
be the first time. The pain in my legs
was so bad that I could not force myself to run. I was reduced to a slow, painful walk. I was exposed, laid bare, no pretense or
façade. I had not the discipline or
desire to try and stifle loud pain induced grunts and grimaces every second or
third step. My dream and goal of qualifying
for and running in the 2014 Boston Marathon was over.
Mile 24: --- I forgot to hit my watch as I passed the aid
station and the mile marker. It appeared
that the Idaho St. basketball team was handing out water. They asked me what I wanted, water or
(watered down) poweraid. I said I would
take a stretcher and an ambulance because it was pretty miserable. They had no answer to that.
Mile 25: 27.54 for
two miles. I thought that I would start
a slow jog here. That lasted about five
steps.
Mile 26: 18.16 I
managed a saunter for the last point two miles.
Mile 26.2: 2.49,
total time 3:35.41
As I approached the finish line the public announcer had
plenty of time to see my race bib and call out my name and where I was from. I thought that if my fan club hadn’t seen me
slowly coming they would at least hear that and get a heads up. As I jogged down the shoot I had an
interesting mix of thoughts and feelings, such that I became emotional and
could not hold back the tears.
Disappointment for coming up short.
This had been a goal literally for years. I had spent two and a half years getting
myself in shape. I spent 18 weeks in
specific preparation for this marathon.
As these thoughts were coursing through my brains, another came as a
surprise. What a blessing to be healthy
enough to even be able to attempt it. I
had been blessed to make it through the whole training cycle with no major
injuries. What a blessing to even be
able to try. I did the absolute best
that I could, I gave everything I had to give, how could I be disappointed in
that? I think that I heard my family
cheering for me at the finish line but I couldn’t tell where it was coming
from. I was able to find the family after
without any major problem. I am so glad
Angie was there to help Elena herd the boys.
Almost every single person I talked to during the race, I saw at the
finish. Most of them commented on how
brutally steep the first half was and how much of a toll it took on their legs
in the second half.
I have to
thank my wife for putting up with me and my training schedule and allowing me
to take so much time away from the family.
On numerous Saturdays I was completely useless after my early morning
long run. I August I was running twice a
day three to four times a week. Often I
would be gone in the afternoons for an hour or so. I probably woke her up more than I realized
when getting up for my early morning runs.
I also thank all of those who encourage me and are good examples to
me.
While we
were walking to the car I saw the guy from San Antonio. He called me by name. We talked for a moment and expressed our
regret about not making the elusive “BQ”.
As we parted he started cheering on a few stragglers who were still
finishing the race. I joined him. This is what it is about, I thought. Finishing the race despite all
obstacles. Every runner deals with their
own daemons as it were.
They say
that you learn more from your defeats than you do your victories. Despite the totality of my sense of defeat
during the race, I soon discovered that there were stronger under currents at
work that will always buoy me up despite setbacks. In the fall of 2011 I found these words by
Chris Chavez of the Bay Area Track Club after he ran a marathon, I believe it
was the Olympic marathon trial in conjunction with the Houston marathon.
“Like everything else in life there is something to be learned whenever you
take a chance at success and, perhaps, more to learn when you fail. As I
was beating myself up for missing my goal my fiancé came to me and said,
“You got 31st out of 36,000. You are doing something right.” That is when it
clicked, success and failure are not absolute end points. I did not reach
my ultimate goal, but I did not fail, either. I succeeded in executing my
training, I succeeded in managing my time and not sacrificing anything in my
professional life, I succeeded in pushing my body to run a competitive
marathon and if I can learn from what I did not accomplish I can find more
success in the future. At no other point in my life would I have been capable
of what I did that day, showing that it is impossible to know what I will
be able to accomplish tomorrow.
“As I prepare for my next marathon this Spring, I prepare to risk failure again for a chance at success. I am prepared to sacrifice my body and health, my emotional wellbeing, my sanity and so much of my time to simply put myself in a position to attempt to run faster than I have before. These are enormous sacrifices for a payoff that is difficult to quantify: a cheering crowd at the finish line, my coach’s proud feedback, a time and a place forever engraved in the minutiae of running history. It is only in this enormous risk that the most personal and valuable benefits can be obtained. A goal met is proof of the worthiness of the work that has been done and fuels the belief in the possibility of new goals that once seemed impossible. For me, this is worth the risk of failure.”
“As I prepare for my next marathon this Spring, I prepare to risk failure again for a chance at success. I am prepared to sacrifice my body and health, my emotional wellbeing, my sanity and so much of my time to simply put myself in a position to attempt to run faster than I have before. These are enormous sacrifices for a payoff that is difficult to quantify: a cheering crowd at the finish line, my coach’s proud feedback, a time and a place forever engraved in the minutiae of running history. It is only in this enormous risk that the most personal and valuable benefits can be obtained. A goal met is proof of the worthiness of the work that has been done and fuels the belief in the possibility of new goals that once seemed impossible. For me, this is worth the risk of failure.”
Here is the
classic quote from Teddy Roosevelt that he gave in a speech entitled
“Citizenship In a Republic” in Paris France in 1910
“It is not
the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to
the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat
and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually
strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends
himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat.”
Last but not least “The Few” by
Edgar A. Guest:
"The easy roads are crowded
And the level roads are jammed;
The pleasant little rivers
With the drifting folks are crammed.
But off yonder where it's rocky,
Where you get a better view,
You will find the ranks are thinning
And the travelers are few.
And the level roads are jammed;
The pleasant little rivers
With the drifting folks are crammed.
But off yonder where it's rocky,
Where you get a better view,
You will find the ranks are thinning
And the travelers are few.
Where the going's smooth and
pleasant
You will always find the throng,
For the many, more's the pity,
Seem to like to drift along.
But the steeps that call for courage,
And the task that's hard to do
In the end result in glory
For the never-wavering few."
You will always find the throng,
For the many, more's the pity,
Seem to like to drift along.
But the steeps that call for courage,
And the task that's hard to do
In the end result in glory
For the never-wavering few."
While my 3:35 time has been the best out of
my three marathons so far, I am not done.
The Pocatello marathon was a stepping stone that propelled me closer to
my goal. I want to take the current
fitness level that I have achieved over these last years and hundreds of miles
of running, and like a phoenix rise from the ashes. http://thephoenixmarathon.com/
MILE SPLIT OVERALL TIME OVERALL PACE
1 7.13 7.13 7.13
2 6.54 14.07 7.03
3 6.56 21.03 7.01
4 6.53 27.56 6.59
5 6.40 34.36 6.55
6 6.48 41.25 6.56
7 7.16 48.42 6.57
8 7.29 56.12 7.02
9 6.46 1:02.59 7.00
10 6.45 1:09.48 6.59
11 6.47 1:16.35 6.58
12 6.57 1:23.33 6.58
13 7.34 1:31.07 7.01
14 7.08 1:38.15 7.01
15 7.20 1:45.36 7.02
16 7.34 1:53.11 7.04
17 7.41 2:00.53 7.07
18 7.27 2:08.20 7.08
19 7.29 2:15.50 7.09
20 7.39 2:23.29 7.10
21 7.49 2:31.19 7.12
22 7.50 2:39.09 7.14
23 7.31 2:46.40 7.15
24 --- --- ---
25 27.54 3:14.35 7.45
26 18.16 3:32.51 8.11
26.2 2.49 3:35.41 8.15
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