Marines Corps Marathon – A Humbling Experience

About 6 months ago I decided to run a marathon. Yesterday I ran the 2008 Marines Corps Marathon. I trained with the First Time Marathoners of Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC.) Since May I’ve been running 4 days a week, 3 short runs and 1 long run with the group on Sunday. 

 There were ups and downs as I progressed through the training but that was part of the training and I took all the aches in pain in strides knowing that it’ll only better prepare me for the 26.2 miles run. Toward the end of the training I was confident that I could run a marathon within 4 hours – 4 hours 15 minutes. 

However, things aren’t always as expected. I did all I could to prepare for the big race, loaded up on carbs 2 days before the race and taper 2 weeks. I took the coaches’ advice and started out slow. The plan was to take it easy for the first 20 miles and really put in the after burner for the last 6.2 miles. As most marathoners will tell you, the race is really in the last 6.2 miles, that’s when you have to dig deep, ignore the pain and will yourself to make it to the finish line.

Everything was on plan for the first half of the race, but as I was pushing forward to mile 18, the unexpected happened. My legs were cramping up, first my left leg then my right leg. During my long runs with the group this had never happened before, I ran all three of the scheduled 20 miler and never cramped up. I ignored the pain and tried to keep a steady pace hoping that I could run through the cramps. This was not the case, by mile 20 both of my legs cramped up so much  that I couldn’t run anymore, I was barely able to walk. I really wanted to quit, by now all delusions of finishing at a certain time goal are out the window. I just want to finish. I want to be able to make it to the finish line in one piece and not have to drop out of the race after spending so much time training for it. I decided to walk to give my legs time to heal up so I can make it through the last few miles. I distracted myself by taking in the scenic sights and reading all the signs held up by the crowd to cheer on their friends and families. The crowd support along the whole 26.2 miles was exceptional. I could feel that they’re are with me and genuinely want me to finish. After walking about half a mile I was motivated by the surging crowd so I decided to push hard for the finish line. 

 The singlet I got from my training program had a slogan on it that said “The marathon 26.2 NEVER A DOUBT”. We all went out there prepared and never having a doubt as to crossing that finish line. As I pushed during the last 2.2 miles the only thing that kept me  going was by repeatedly saying to myself NEVER A DOUBT NEVER A DOUBT and the awe inspiring support from the crowd. I managed to shuffled all the way to the finish line, even up that agonizing last sadistic .2 mile hill. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” was playing and my friends were there waiting so I did a victory pose and hurried to the finish line so I don’t have to run anymore. 

I went through so many emotions during the race. First I was confident that I could finish the race within my projected time, then reality set in and I felt so hopless that I wanted to quit, but the support of people from my running group, especially Yvonne, who ran with me for a while and gave me that life-saving pretzel, and coach Mike who saw me suffering and motivated me to keep going. 

I finished in 5 hours and 12 minutes. ALL the pains, hopelessness, suffering and emotions are mine. I can now proudly say that I am a marathoner. I was humbled by the experience but in a way happy knowing that I can do better. I will continue training, I am hooked for life. My respect goes out to those that put in the time and effort to train for marathons, I can now say with certainty that I know what you’re going through. Here’s to the next run!!! may your feet be light and your strides swift.

Marines Corps Marathon 2008 result

Filed under: Running , 10/26/2008, 26.2, first time marathoner, humbled experience, marines corps marathon, MCM, never a doubt, people's marathon

Baltimore Half Marathon

2008 Results: The active.com server is being hammer by the mass influx of runners checking their results so its extremely slow, keep refreshing and it would work eventually.
Half Marathon
Marathon
5K

The Baltimore 1/2 marathon was my last race before my first marathon. The Marines Corp Marathon is a mere 2 weeks away. I consider the Baltimore half as sort of a dress rehearsal for the real thing. I did everything I planned to do in the actual marathon. The night before I filled up on carbs, went to sleep early and on race day I was up at 5:30AM  getting ready to head out to M&T Bank Ravens stadium. I arrived at a reasonable time and were able to found an ok parking spot. I had planned this race with a friend months ago so we were really excited for it. We made it to the race earlier than normal to avoid the debacle that we had to endured in the Lawyers Have Heart 10k, we came a bit late and couldn’t check in out stuff so we ended up having to run with our phones, keys and wallets. It was not a pleasant experience.

After taking some time to put on our bibs, time chip, and stripping down to our race clothing we headed out to the start of the race festivities. Neither of us had much for breakfast, if you could call a banana that, so we went around scavenging for food. This was still very much early in the day, around 7:30AM so the volunteers haven’t enough time to unpackage all the food provisions yet. We asked one of them for bagels and she was nice enough to lead us into the inside tent where mountains of ready to eat food were stored. We had our choice of whatever we wanted. We gladly took her up on the offer and filled our stomachs. Being creatures of habit we were still a bit hungry after walking around for a while, we headed back into the  tent to help ourselves to more food. Another volunteer kindly remind us that we can’t be in there and the food will be available when its on the table.

With so much time left before the 9:45AM start of the half marathon we wander around trying to see how much free stuff we can get. Apparently if you have the time there is quite a lot of free stuff to acquired. The Toyota, Geico and United way booth had decent giveaways.

We started walking to the starting line at 9:15AM, as we arrived we were able to spectate and cheer on as the faster marathoners approach their 1/2 way point. We had a hard time trying to get to the wave we were suppose to start in, both of our bibs were in the 30k+ range so we should be in the last and 3rd wave. We settled for the 2nd instead. The weather was perfect for long distance running, we were pumped up as more and more marathoners pass by.

We came to the race with a plan in mind, start slow and finish strong. There is no better satisfaction than finishing strong knowing that you have more then enough in your tank to sprint to the finish line while smiling for the camera. The popularity of the negative split have been proven by world elite runners and preached  by coaches across the country. We stuck to the plan and ran about a 10 minute pace for the first 7 miles. As we were approaching the Lake Montebello loop, which I must say is the BEST part of the course, the windy breeze was a godsend as it gave runners a chance to truly appreciate the joys of running. The brief escape of pounding the potholes filled pavements on the roads was greatly appreciated. I liked it so much that I considered making another loop just to feel the breeze again. I also really like the gummy bears that were provided along the course, also the hi-fiving guys in the chicken and tiger suits were very entertaining and encouraging.

By the time we made it out of the loop the mile 8 marker was close by and staying true to our negative split plan we picked up the pace and ran a 9:00-9:15 pace. We passed a lot of runners that went out strong and are getting low in their gas reserves. I would  be lying if I say it wasn’t a satisfying experience. We started the 2nd half of the race with new found confidence and vigor, weaving and squeezeing through other runners as we make our way to the  finish line. We both crossed the finish line at the exact moment with a chip time of 2:08:34

My Time

The post race accomodations was the best I’ve seen, the space blankets (I don’t know the official name) was a nice touch. This is the first race I’ve ran that give out medal to finishers. As soon as we finished we made our way to the free massage tent. I’ve never gotten a massage before and I now realized what I’ve  been missing out on. The masseuse I had was great, whatever she was doing, it worked, I felt like I could run another half marathon after that.

Overall I had a great time running the Baltimore half marathon and  will definitely come back next year. Instead of the half I’ll be attempting the full marathon.  Next year we plan to run both the Frederick and Baltimore marathon so we can get that 3rd coveted Maryland Double medal

Maryland Double Medal

Filed under: Running , 1/2 marathon, Baltimore half marathon, Baltimore running festival, maryland double, negative split

Kenya dig it ?

Recently it occurred to me that I am not very gifted athletically. Be it tennis, basketball, or even soccer, I seem to equally suck at just about every sports. So what’s a guy to do ? give up ? or delude himself into thinking that he might be good at something ? I chose to delude myself and set out to find the easiest thing to do that resemble a sport. Running. Most people chose running for its elegant simplicity but not me, I chose running because its the easiest thing I could think of.

There’s not much to it really, you just run until you get tired. Simple enough. But all is not well, every sports has it heroes and running is no different. The bane of every runners are those darn Kenyans. No matter how good you are you just cannot beat a 5′4″ guy that weigh about 110 pounds. I can usually pick out the winner of each and every race I participate in with almost 95% accuracy. Yes it will most likely be that 5′4″ Kenyan running machine.

Samuel Wanjiru

Take for example, the guy in red above. Yea him, that’s Samuel Wanjiru. He’s 21. Current holder of the half marathon world record with a time of 58:33. That’s freakishly fast. I think he also got a gold medal or something in the Beijing olympics. Don’t ask why that Asian guy is in there, as far as I know Asians don’t really run, or do anything athletics for that matter. We’re content sitting at home reading our math books and eating our rice.

Yes as it stands the Kenyans are the superstars of the running world, every runners I know try to channel their “inner Kenyan” as they run but you just can’t beat the real thing.

As for me I got a better plan, I am short enough, I just gotta drop a few pounds then maybe, just maybe I can run just as fast as them. Soon enough I’ll become world famous and other Asians will look up to me and say to themselves “WOW, if he can do it then maybe I could too. Tomorrow though, there’s math homework to be done and rice to be eaten.”

Filed under: Running , asians don't run, channel your inner kenyan, kenyans, math and rice, samuel wanjiru