Cowboy Hazel

Yesterday's marathon was one of those races where the time doesn't even come close to telling the whole story. I ran my second slowest time ever, a 3:13:16 (online results) but feel like I ran as well as I could have given the conditions and am really happy to have pushed through. And, because of the heat, that time was good enough for 17th overall out of 1282 runners and 2nd out of 100 in my age group.

Helen and I went to a wedding in Pennsylvania the night before then stayed at a hotel a little over an hour away from Long Branch. That made for an early wakeup and a lot less sleep than I would have liked. Between that and the fact that I had been running fairly hard all week with no rest since Monday, not to mention the fact that I'd run Boston hard 13 days prior, my legs were pretty tired and sore at the start.

It was cool and breezy right by the ocean, but after turning left about a quarter mile into the race, we were greeted with a wall of heat. It was almost suffocating. We fought through and kept up near 7 minute pace for the first 9 miles. At that point, the heat was really taking a toll on Helen and so we slowed down to about 7:30's. Mile 12 brought us back to the cool air of the beach and we again sped up. She zoomed off with about a half mile to go and finished 5th in the Half Marathon.

The cool air and the fact that we had been running pretty easy the last few miles tricked me into thinking I had more than I did. I knew I just had to hit a 1:27 half to finish sub-3 and that seemed reasonable. I sped up to about 6:45 pace and began deliberately moving up through the runners, passing one every few hundred yards. If the sun had stayed behind the clouds as it was then, I think I just might have pulled it off.

But the sun didn't stay behind the clouds. It came back full force and the temperatures shot up into the eighties quickly. The humidity from the ocean made it seem even hotter. I slowed to 7:15's, then 7:30's, then 7:45's, but the whole time I was still consistently passing other runners. Everyone was dying out there. I was so thankful for the spectators out on their lawns with garden hoses and got sprayed down every chance I got. And I was taking two Gatorades and one water at each water station but it just wasn't enough.

A horrible cramp in my chest nearly dropped me right after mile 24. It was a pain like I've never felt before and no matter how much I wanted to, there was just no way that I could run through it. I could barely walk. I took a bunch of deep breaths and was finally able to pick up a slow jog again by flexing my abs in as hard as I could but, as you can imagine, that doesn't allow for very quick running. I slowed down to over 8:30 pace and a few of the people I had picked off in the second half passed me back. Helen was off to the right cheering me on just before the finish, but I was in so much pain that I didn't even recognize her.

Finally, the finish line and it was over. I've never been so happy to finish up a race.

So, yes, I'm a little disappointed that I had to walk, that I didn't run a negative split, that I let those runners pass me the last mile, but all in all, I have to be really happy with how the race went. It was hot, I was uncomfortable, but I found a way to fight through and finish. I have some much bigger, tougher races on the horizon and so it's good to know that I can handle a little adversity.