I am a Marathoner!

Well as some of you know I have been since January training for my first Marathon. Yes, the fat nerd decided to try a marathon. I hope to describe now for you some of the journey of pain.
For some dumb reason a couple years ago this cute young gal kept emailing me to come and run in her running club she had started in a local health club. I went and started running with the club which at first was basically a bunch of women and me running 2-5 miles. The group over time changed though somehow and is made up now of very good runners, and me. To show this a bunch of them went to AZ to run a marathon and 5 of them qualified and went and ran the Boston Marathon this last April.
Well when you begin running with this kind of group the runs go up in length. A weekday run is always 5 or miles followed by a normal weekend run of 10-13. Watching them and getting up to these distances starts to make a person think and usually not for the better. So I ran my 1st half last November in 1 hour 42 minutes. Hey this isn’t so bad and thus when the New Year turned I decided, AGAINST my better judgment to try a marathon. Yep, I got hooked on adding Marathoner to my list of titles and achievements of life.
Training went well for the most part with lots of changes with scheduling and injury problems. I think I respected the mileage but not the training part as much as I should have. I thought that I missed this training but I am still ahead of this other training schedule so I will be okay. Next time I will take my training a bit more serious. That said I don’t think that had I trained the full course the right way would have made much of a difference to this marathon. I’ll explain.
I for the last 6 weeks have been fighting a cramping problem in my right calve. In the end I missed a whole week of training including my last long run I was supposed to do. I ran the hill half I wrote about last time and then the next week went into leg cramps again. I ended up not running at all for the last 10 days before the marathon, and getting a massage to try and work out my legs. As I was told I was in the 50% of all people who train for a marathon and get injured and do not get to run it. That was quickly becoming me. Another piece of motivation was the free lunch Smarter had offered me if I completed the marathon. I can’t miss out on a free lunch. I can’t be a quitter, and hungry.
Well I decided to give it my best shot and I could always quit during but I could not have the chance to finish if I didn’t at least start the race. I awoke from a sleepless night at 1am and got out of bed at 3:30 am. I headed out and loaded the bus to be taken to the start line at 4:15 am an arrived at 5:30 to which my friends were shocked when they saw me get off the bus.
The race started at 6:15 with the caution of start out slowly and pick up speed at the end OR start out fast and they would pick us up along the way. I was good and started out slowly. I passed the 5 mile mark where my wife was at making sure I was doing okay with my injury to which I was doing great. She was interview by the local newspaper at that point which was a cool thing. I saw her again at the 10 mile mark and all was good. As I told her all systems are a go I will see you at the bottom of the canyon. Yes, I said canyon this race is run all downhill. Easy you think let me tell you more.
I crossed the half point, 13.1 miles, at 2 hours and 5 minutes. I had done well I was on track for a 4 hour marathon and with pain and the distance later 4:30 was in my sites. I was happy and all was going as planned, but that was about to change. There was over 700 people that started this race of that around 100 did not complete it and I know the reason.
It hit me around mile 16 at the bottom of the canyon heading out into the flat part of the course. The 16 miles of downhill took its toll on my quads and they began to spasm. About a mile later the hams began to contract into cramps followed by the calves. I would be trying to jog some and the cramp would hit and my leg would not go forward. I would stumble and come to a halt without falling. What was I going to do and where was my wife now that I was failing. Well she could not get a place to park there and went another 2 miles down the road. I walked, limped and hobbled onward all the time wondering what I was going to do. Ohh wait there goes a really cute girl, can I keep up with her for a while. OUCHHH, NOPE!
I finally rounded the road and reached the part where the race turned onto a river trail. There was my wife cheering me on but I was limping along tears rolling down my face from the pain, and frustration I was feeling with my body quitting on me and my time evaporating, my hope of a marathon sinking fast. I hugged on the way by and kept going as she said my kids and parents were just up around the next bend.
They were there and saw me coming. They walked along beside me and a huge cramp hit my left leg. It was the kind that had me standing on my toe winching in pain that ran down my hamstring from my buttock to my ankle. As I stood there gasping for air, tears again rolling down my face trying to light take another step forward my mother started looking for a way for dad to help me to the car and she was telling me, no more like ordering me to stop I was done and the race would be here another day. My hopes of the marathon and the free lunch we gone. I would not be able to make it the last 5 miles like this. Well my mom is not of the best walking ability and even in my hobbling state of pain I was still out walking her so I continued as best I could and the cramp relieved. I waved a good bye and crossed under an overpass in the road on the trail and continued with the vitamin water my wife handed me.
I poured the new drink into the bottles on my fuel belt and was walking along when a biker came along and yelled I got your trash and took my bottle. He asked if I needed any water or help to which I declined and he peddled on down the path. Other runners that caught me at this point offered encouragement that walking would still get me there and to try to stretch at times to relieve the pain while still moving.
I now reached about 1.5 miles out from the finish line. I am still cramping cringing at times in pain at other times trying to scuttle jog along to help my time to the finish when I happened upon the cute gal I mentioned above. Her friend she was running with face planted on the trail and was puking. The paramedics were there hauling in stretchers to get her out and I heard she could not even answer her name. She was out for the count. OK, I thought I might be in pain, crying like a baby with both pain and emotions gone awry but I was not out for the count. I continued.
I turned around the final bend for the last .2 miles of this 26.2 miles journey of hell. Again I met my mother who was also crying watching me finish, my father who grasped my hand as I went by. I mustered the last of my pain reserves and began to run. I finished my first Marathon in 4:56:45. I met my goal to finish, not in the time I wanted but they tell you your first marathon is to finish time comes later. What really matters is I am now part of an elite group with the title of Marathoner.
I was pretty much out of it the rest of the day sleeping on the couch and crawling up the stairs to my bedroom to die in bed. My wife and kids were AWESOME supporting me throughout the run and are proud of my finishing under such circumstances. Will I run another one? Right now the answer is no, halves yes, marathons no. BUT you know if the course was flatter to what I trained I think I could beat that time. Hmmm if I complete another marathon does that move me up the list in eliteness?
For now though I just want to know if anyone saw the truck that hit me yesterday or where Smarter is I want that free lunch, ohh and I am now a MARATHONER!