Baltimore Marathon.

It was a long and brutal weekend to say the least... and i am anything but motivated in wanting to post about it.  So i apologize in advance for it being brief and without my normal array of quips and wittiness. 

I got a late start on Thursday and headed down to Baltimore / DC, arriving a little after 10pm.  After hanging out for the night, I headed to Ravens Stadium on Friday for the Event Expo... to register and to collect all the SWAG from the various booths.... i.e. chapstick, more water bottles than i will ever use in a life time, plastic cups, lanyards, gloves, etc etc etc.

Picked up my bib number, signed up for a pace group (3:10) and collected my UnderArmour marathon shirt.  I also purchased some things i probably shouldn't have:  a 2nd UnderArmour shirt, a fuel belt for long distance running, and sweat bands for my wrist.  

Left after about 2 hours of meandering and picking up at least a dozen marathon fliers for other races and headed out to my cousins place about 25 minutes northeast of Baltimore.

When i arrived, i was immediately greeted by a joyous 3 year old who was more than willing to tire me out before i had even run!  I spent most of the day (Friday) playing with him, throwing out my back, and watching Ratatouille / Finding Nemo.  Finally we were able to get him to bed after some convincing and a half hour story time session courtesy of yours truly.  

I think i'll be a great dad.

Went to bed around 11 in anticipation of the 5am alarm that was set to go off.  

Of course, i woke up 2 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off, so i just got up instead of waiting.  Hopped in the shower, made some oatmeal, and drove to Baltimore.  

Arrived at about 6:30am and wandered about for a bit. I had until 8am to kill until the race start.  Listened to the ole ipod, took in some water and gels, stretched, dressed, laced up the shoes, checked my bag and went to the starting area at around 7:45am.  It was there that i met up with the 3:10 pace group (thanks to Geico) and met some great guys who i was to be running with for the race.  

It was great because the runners were set up so that there wouldn't be faster ones dodging and weaving through crowds of slower ones.  The 3:10ers were at the head of the pack, right behind the Ethiopians.  No. Really.  I lined up right behind the Ethiopians.

The time grew near and at 7:58am, 2 mins before the start, i realized i had to go to the bathroom.  Great.  

Welp... gotta hold it.

The gun went off and we started off on your 7:08 per mile pace.  It was surprisingly comfortable and easy.  We were having conversations and it wasn't laboured at all.  The biggest thing was that i really loved running with other people.  After the initial jockeying for position and crowding, we spread out a bit and just 'chilled' so to speak.

At mile 2, a helpful man on the corner gave us encouragement... saying "you're doing great guys... you're only 4 minutes behind the leaders."  

4 minutes behind the leaders... at MILE 2!  

We pranced on... up one hill, down a little, up another big hill, down a small one.... i swear i have never run so many hills in my life.  I wasn't exactly prepared for that.

About an hour in, i took down my first gel of the race.  Its tricky the first time out.... running, grabbing water, pounding it, grabbing gatorade, pounding it, and trying to get gel too.  

The sun eventually came out and we could tell it was gonna be a hot one.  Through mile 10 we were actually under the 3:10 finish pace which was great.  I still felt great and strong.  The crowds were great and inspiring, and even through some of the ghettos i mean "less wealthy sections" the people had their speakers in windows blasting 'Eye of the Tiger' and 'Chariots of Fire.'  It was a rush! 

Came through the halfway point at about 1:35 which is right on pace for a 3:10 marathon.  It was about this time that we saw the leaders streaking by the other way.  

Unreal.  

Throughout the first half of the race i was ever vigilant of the professional photographers on the course.  I can't wait for the cd to get to me with all the pictures on them... i made a point of posing for a number of them... so it should prove interesting.  Another thing that will be great to see is my inevitable decline after mile 16 and the how bleak i looked.  

Heres a mile by mile recap of the end of my race:

Mile 16 - Left leg started cramping up a lot.  First my calf, then my hamstring had to play too.

Mile 18 - I had been able to keep the pace group in my field of vision up until this point.  No more.  My race had turned in to running with walking through aid stations.

Mile 19 - My right leg finally felt the peer pressure and started cramping up... only worse than my left.  These cramps were the balled up ones where every time i kicked my hamstring constricted.  I haven't felt that kind of physical pain in a long time.

Mile 20 - The 3:20 pacers started to pass me.  This is when i knew i was in serious trouble.

Mile 21 - Lost view of the 3:20 pacers.  My run became more of a pathetic hobble.

Mile 22 - My body finally gave me the big middle finger and reduced me to walking.  Talk about humbling.  I decided to finally stop and use a port-a-pottie if only to give my legs a rest.  

Miles 23 / 24 - Consisted mostly of a humorous hobble / walk combination (humorous to watch, not experience) and a "grab everything i can get my hands on" mentality through the aid stations.  I was grabbing a cup of water, pounding it, grabbing a cub of gatorade, pounding it, and then another water to wash that down.  My body hated me.  To add insult to injury, the 3:30 pacers had began to pass me.

Mile 25 - Almost entirely a walk, at this time it was about finishing... but oh boy did the first aid booths look inviting along the course.  

The last mile was entirely down hill and i met up with another struggling member of the 3:10 pace group.  We just said screw it and starting running as fast as we could.  I sprinted the last mile (well, as good a sprint could be after 25 miles of physical battery) and finished in a time of 3:38:54.  Almost a half hour after the the group i had set off with.  The surprising thing was that my last mile was actually ran in under 6:30. 

I hate my body.

After the race, we were corralled into the runners area where we were treated to a medal, a reflective sheet to ward off the sun, liquids and some food (bananas, chips, granola, fruit, etc.)  Stupidly, i pounded 4 cups of gatorade, grabbed two bottles of water, chips and granola and went and sat on the ground.  This is where i started to feel bad... dizzy, nauseous, all sorts of not normal.

I stood up and walked over to the other side where i checked my bag.  Sat down on a bench, put my head in my hands and i may have 'fallen asleep' for a good 15 minutes.  In reality, i probably passed out.  When i 'woke up' i went and collected my bag and then got that mouth watering feeling that comes to you right before something bad is going to happen.  Yeah, you know what i mean.

I snatched my bag and made my way as quickly as possible to the far end of the nearest parking lot, where no one could see me, and promptly returned all that gatorade back to the earth.  On the plus side, it made me feel 150 times better, but at the cost of soiling my new $110 Adidas AdiZero running shoes.  

I guess they're officially broken in now.  

After collecting myself and getting my act together, i was delighted to see that ONE PERSON came to see me.  Maren Bertwell from my Italy Round 1 lives in Annapolis, so she drove up to say hi.  It was amazing to see her and was really the highlight of my day.

I think the hardest part about running there wasn't the heat, wasn't the hills, wasn't the distance or any of that... it was the fact that i had no one there to support me.  No one for the hour and a half prior, no one cheering for me during, and no one at the finish where everyone else was hugging their loved ones.  It was just me, my little spot on the pavement and eventual puddle of gatorade.

Congrats Nate.

Gotta be honest, sitting in a car and driving yourself home 30-40 minutes is not an ideal way to wind up a marathon experience either.  For a lack of better way to put it, that sucked.

Went back to my cousins place, but only after i stopped into a Walmart to grab a 10 pound bag of ice.  Filled the tub up, dumped the ice in, and submerged my battered lower body.

Now, you're only supposed to be in an ice bath for 10-15 minutes.  I FELL ASLEEP in my ice bath and only woke up when my cousin pounded on the door 50 minutes later.  

Nice one Nate.

After washing off i headed downstairs where Derek (the 3 year old) was more than willing to pick up where we left off the day before.  Unfortunately, i couldn't say no to him and ignored my body's pleas to rest and relax.  We ripped through Finding Nemo again, and then sat down for a great meal of eggplant parmesan.   After putting the kids to bed we sat down and watched Reign Over Me.  Well... my cousin and her husband sat, i kind of sprawled in whatever position would make my body the least angry.

I went to bed before 11pm and passed out until my alarm went off at 9am.... i MUST have been tired.  I never completely sleep through the night.  Due to the fact i drink too much water (or maybe because i'm getting old) i have to get up to piss 1-2 times during the night.  I know you wanted to know that.

When i got up, i was greeted with eggs, bacon, and strawberry / chocolate chip pancakes.  Ugh... heaven.  At about noon i said my goodbyes and began my trek back north.

If there's anything worse than driving 40 minutes right after running a marathon, its driving 6+ hours the day after.  Not exactly pleasant.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell.  Today i was antsy, and although unable to run for another couple days, i went against my better judgement and cycled an easy 34 miles.  

::shaking head::

Lifting and swimming tomorrow... hopefully turn on the high mileage running at the end of the week in prep for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 23rd.

I learned a lot this weekend, about the race and about my body:

1.  I underestimated how hard a marathon is.

2.  Despite what your mind and lungs want you to do, your body will do what it wants.

3.  Running with other people make all the difference in the world.

4.  I've said it before, and i'm saying it again:  i have to check my ego at the door.  Even though my time was "really good" for a first timer, i wasn't nearly prepared enough from my training.

5.  Have people there for you.  At the end, there's nothing i wanted more than to see the people i care about.  It's a crappy feeling when you can't.  Substitute "crappy" with a much stronger word though.

6.  Ask questions and take advice.  Encourage others and accept encouragement.  

7.  Fuel and hydrate.  FUEL AND HYDRATE.

8.  It's an emotional experience.  Crossing that finish line was more than gratifying.  To the point of wanting to cry.  When it hurts to the point you want to quit, think about that finish line.

40 days until Philly.  Lets see if we can cut 30 minutes of that time, shall we?