Cox Marathon Race Report

After a night of pasta and some games with Celina, Marcus, Kenny, Tom and Laura (and the kids) – I woke up at 5am. Of course I had a crazy dream about the course and getting lost, and the course going through a zoo, and having to do hill repeats in the middle of it. After breakfast (cereal and a banana) – I took a 30 minute nap or so then got myself ready.

Marcus drove Kenny, Laura and I downtown to the start. After a quick stop at the porta-potty we met up with Drew, Justin and Shawn a little after 7. We did some stretching out – and then headed over to the start. Justin, Drew and I lined up together about a 1/3 of the way back (as best as I can guess). The gun went off and we were off.

Mile 1 - I saw Justin, Drew and Laura in the beginning of it, then pulled slowly away. First mile was a 9:05 – a little fast but not horrible (or stupid).

Mile 2-5 – Drew caught up to me. We ran the next 3 miles together. I had the feeling I had to go pee – but I tried to forget about it. We went up Gano, then over Angell and across Henderson Bridge. (this is our normal training path but backwards) When we made the hard turn right off the bridge we saw Justin just coming down the ramp. Ran up the hill to the bike path. Once we got over to the bike path I decided I’d stop to empty my bladder at the next porta-potties. (8:59, 8:51, 8:59, 9:13)

Mile 5-7 – After stopping to pee, I caught back up to Drew (yes yes – I had to haul ass to do it at a 6 and change pace). Shawn was there and ran with us – snapped some pics and kept us motivated. Hills hills hills. (8:03, 9:07)

Mile 7-10 – Drew turned off with the other half marathoners a little after the 7 mile marker. Sometime during mile 8 Shawn drove up next to me cranking Metallica for me and yelled some motivating words (no idea what he said now). I felt really good at this point – no troubles at all. Saw Justin during mile 9 during the turnaround. (8:39, 8:37, 8:47).

Mile 10-13 – During mile ten, I saw a runner on the side of the road with emergency people helping her out. First time, I thought to myself – “What am I doing?”. Hit the half marathon point at 1:55 and change. Missed a mile marker somehow. (8:45, 8:50, 8:44)

Mile 13-20- Big blur of miles, hills, sharp turns, hills and sharp turns. I do remember nice houses, a golf course. Started to get a bit tired but was able to hold my effort fairly well. This is where I realized that not all the mile markers were in the right spot. Hit mile 20 at 2:57 and change. Goal was to get there by 3 hours – so I was doing ok. (8:55, 9:10, 9:13, 9:39, 9:15, 9:18, 9:25)

Mile 20-25– This is where things start to go down hill. I felt alright between 20 and 21 – but right around mile 22 – I got really hungry. Mile 23 is where Im guessing I hit the wall. There is a picture (I think from capstone) – of me around 24 – I’m very curious to see how I look. I pushed myself across the foot bridge next to 195, down the ramp and just forced myself to keep going. When I got to mile 25 (1.2 miles to go) – I was around 3:48 minutes and knew I couldn't lose much more time if I was going to get under 4 hours. No splits really through here - between the mile markers not being true miles - and my state of mind - I really couldn't trust what the watch told me.

Mile 25-26.2 – I felt I picked up the pace (who knows if I really did). Looks like from my watch the last full mile was at a 9:39 pace. Tom was just before the 26 mile marker and yelled out to me – which was exactly what I needed to give me a boost. I turned left to head into downtown and started to run as fast as I could at this point. By my watch the last .2 miles were done at a 7:11 pace. The video Shawn took of me doesn’t look that fast – and I look terrible. I saw the clock getting close to 4:00:00 – so I really had to haul ass and I crossed as the clock (gun time) went to 3:59:55. WAHOO!! - sub 4 hours.

After I crossed the finish line I was DONE (physically and mentally). My eyes immediately started to close and all I wanted to do was go lie down and sleep. A medical person stepped in front of me very quickly and had to ask me twice if I was ok. I told her I was (probably should have said I wasn’t)….then I saw Anthony who knew I wasn’t doing well – and went to get me water and help me sit down on the curb. I sat there for a few minutes until the rest of the crew came over. We strolled down to get some food and water. I ate a few pieces of pizza – then lied down in the grass and fell asleep. I kept waking up and falling asleep. Feet and ankles very sore – took off shoes – and that felt so good. Justin came down after finishing and we all sat around and chatted.

We then headed up to Thayer St for lunch where I ate my normal post race cheese burger. All in all it was a good day - very tired, very sore – but very happy at my accomplishment. I’m definitely not one and done.

Other's Results:
Justin (Marathon) - 4:19:07.43
Andrew (1/2 Marathon) - 1:53:12.25
Kenny (1/2 Marathon) - 2:12:33.80
Laura (1/2 Marathon) - 2:14:36.18
Shawn (5k) - 26:31.00
Tim (5k) - 24:36.01