UVM
Had the opportunity to have Ben V. and Jon H. come down from Ogden and stay at my place Friday Night. Always a blast with these guys. Good men. We were able to game plan and then get some sleep.
Got up around 3am and got ready. I had taped my left groin and hip up the night before but could still feel the IT band. Really weird that this just came on a few days ago. I have never really had IT band problems until this inccident. Hopefully it is nothing...right? Jon drove us down and we hopped on a nice bus(the last bus) and headed out to Wallsberg. We got off the bus and headed straight for the Portajohn's. The ride up was quite nice. After a 3rd bathroom visit this morning, I felt ready to go. Saw a lot of familiar faces before and during the starting line. Nate Krah introduced Pete Hendrickson, a friend of his, to me and said I should run with him. 2:55 goal. I thought that was a good idea. Pete was on his 4th marathon and so I looked forward to working with him and running a fun race. I wished a lot of guys/gals good luck before the start and then it was go time. Temp was really nice but we did have a head wind. The head wind would not be a fun one during a pivotal point on the course.
Pete and I set out and immediately people were off. 6:20 pace the first 1/4 mile and I told him hey, lets slow down. We did and settled in nicely. I felt really welll. First 2 miles were 6:41 and 6:43. Pete and I both felt very comfortable. Looking back I would not have changed this. The first 7 miles flew by. I felt really good going into the turn out of Wallsberg.
Our splits going up the 3 humps were 7:02 to 7:20. Now during this strecth I could feel my left leg acting up. I was really concerned that my tape job was not going to do the trick but mentally I stayed focused and worked through the pain and tightness. There were times it went away and then times it was really bad. There was nothing I could do thought to subside the pain at this point. I was just going to have to work through it. I felt like I had enough strength and mental toughness to accomplish a sub 3 goal. I mean why not?
The concrete beat me up pretty fast. When we reached the half way point, I saw my girlfriend Angela and that was a pleasant surprise to see her. I did not think I would see her this early on the course. Nice surprise. 1:30:17 at the half. A little slow but definitely felt great going through the half. So much that mile 14 felt aswesome. Pete and I had worked very well together and 'the feel' felt great.
Amazing what can happened in the blink of a 1/4 mile during a marathon. I hit mile 15 in 7:20 I think. When I saw my watch, I paniced a little and told Pete, "hey, I am falling off. you go." He proceeded to go. For some reason at this point, the pain was very intense in my left leg. I could understand why my IT band was all of sudden hurting this bad. I decided to relax. Then Mile 16 going up the hill. All of a sudden, we are now hitting 30 mph winds. I could not get my left leg to relax. The winds made it impossible to even do just this. I knew I was in trouble. My body was failing me and there was nothing I could do about it. I thought about four times from miles 16-23 that I should drop out. I was really worrried that I was going to further injure myself and that it was going to be really bad if I continued with how tight I felt. I have never expereinced a pain like this before during a race. I saw Angela at 17, and now 19 and 21. At 21, I needed a gatorade. I told her to go get me one. The last two aid stations, the volunteers dropped the cups when I went to grab or I just could not get it right. Frustrating. I saw Angela at mile 23. I grabbed the gatorade and drank about 5 sips. It felt like a 20 lb weight. About 100 feet from putting the bottle down, my left calf completely seized up. I yelled very loudly and a guy that came up on me who eventually I passed again was worried I just lost my leg. He asked if I was ok? I was shocked at the pain. It felt like someone shot me or bit me. I grabbed my calf flor like 2-3 seconds and then said, "lets go you freaking $%#&^ yeah I swore. I was pissed. I knew my race was done at this point. My left leg was bad. I almost just dropped off the side of the road but told myself, "Look you have 3 more miles. This is a joke. Finish the freaking race." I limped all the way to the finish and willed myself to that line. I crossed with disgust because my training was there to go sub 3, but it just was not my day.
I thourghly enjoyed the experience. Another knowledege boost. I really enjoyed seeing everyone at the finish. Great course, class act race director with Hyrum. And the competition was awesome. I will run another marathon and look forward to more training.
Splits: 6:41, 6:43, 6:49, 6:51, 6:49, 6:43, 6:42, 7:03, 7:20, 6:49, 6:48, 7:02, 6:49, 1:30:17 1st half.
6:34, 6:58, 7:29, 7:48(wheels are falling off), 7:15, 6:58(maybe I can comback strong), 7:08, 7:15, 7:15(I am done), 7:37(yep, I am really done.), 8:18(my left calf seizes, now I am limping to the finish), 7:42, 7:30, 1:44 .2
Thanks for all who cheered me on and high fived me. Love the running community. Great way to start the morning.
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