| |
November 6, 2011
5:17:47
Running this event once in a lifetime should be enough, yet I returned. I conqured the five hour mark in 2009, so this time I brought a camera and walked more then I should have so I didn't have to worry about my final time. I came back to run through Central Park again and to get a medal that didn't have a big 40 on it (pretty self indulgent in my eyes in 2009), I knew a big 42 was not going to happen. The medal was nice this year but they could do so mucn more, they need me as a consultant!
The day was perfect weather, I was in the first wave and it was very exciting and this still is my favorite race of the 39 I have run to date. I was surprised I could run a nine minute pace right away, first mile, I probably started out too fast which is something I would have never expected, thus at mile eight, I was already burned out. I guess it was due to a combination of many things. I hit my peak in Portland and I knew it and I was trained all year to run races in July and September which I have never done before. My gas tank was low and having a three hour time difference and taking four hours to get to the start line from waking up early did not help.
I honestly wondered if I would be able to finish, I had never thought that before even with the disasters of Newport overheating, falling at mile 13 in San Francisco and a very painful groin injury in Bellingham. I at least was arobically able at those races, this time I was just burned out! Never before had I had to walk on purpose before miles 15 ever! But survival instincts kicked in and I thought I should do the "Jeff Gallaway" method of running and walking and by gosh it worked, and I probably only lost about 15 minutes of where I would have been on a normal run. When I did run I was normal pace, so thank God it worked and the crowd support is the best, bar none!
In the last four October/November's I have traveled to the east coast to run New York City and Marine Corp twice. Next year I will not do such, how many is enough? These races are special but I live in Seattle, so for now I have plans to not run a marathon in 2012 I have to fly to. I need a year to remember I am 53 years old and 2011 reminded me of this many times. I thank God for every step he gave me to finish this day and I absorbed every minute of it and when I hit the finish line I knew I had done something truely special times two!
|
