I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the race itself, as it turned into a run for me that became more like a college homecoming parade back in the days of visiting Western State College in Gunnison, Co. than it was a 10k race. Obviously every race has a goal, and everyone, no matter how little they think they are prepared, or what has happened leading up to a race, always thinks at some point before the gun goes off that they will catch "lightning in a bottle", or something to that effect. I remember a 4 miler on Thanksgiving Day 2 years ago in which I threw up in a bathroom of a 7-11 30 minutes before the start, and as a guy who still hasn't run a sub 20 5k officially, I went through the 5k that day around 19:26. I bonked on the last mile, but still finished in just over 26 minutes for the 4 miles.
I was pretty quiet on Sunday after getting up and around. I didn't do much, I didn't leave the house after about noon I think. I went to bed around 945 and was up by 330 to try and get out of town. This is where the story starts to get weird. I did my normal morning routine, although when I went in to "read the paper", I had no luck. So I got my stuff together, figuring I would stop for a SF Red Bull on the road and do business then. I stopped about halfway down to Boulder, and still no luck. I got to Boulder and parked my pickup at a place that was about halfway between the start and finish line. I walked in to pickup my packet, and as I was headed back about a mile to my truck, I ran into jon_a from the MRT section of RWOL. Him and I had run Colorado together about 3 weeks ago and so we chatted for a while. At this point I'm running behind, so I jog to the pickup, store my stuff and am thinking I'll hit the water closet on my way back, but by the time I got back to where they were, the lines were huge and I was less than 5 minutes from the gun. I decided to gamble...
I lost. The first mile went great, around 1.6 or so, it was time for me to find a restroom. NOW. Luckily there are portolets all over the course. After a couple minute pit stop, I started running again, PR, anything special is now out the window. I fought with my legs for the next mile and a half, just feeling like they had nothing in them. Around the halfway point, I have accepted that I'm just looking to finish the race at this point. Boulder runs through a lot of residential stuff whre college kids live. At just around halfway, a dude was holding a skull shaped beer bong and I had stopped to collect myself. He looked at me and said "You wanna hit this?"...I said "It's not Key Light is it?" He said it wasn't, and the next thing you know I'm on the business end of 3.5 beers at 725 in the morning on a Monday. I got cheered, and backslapped, and high 5s, but what I really got out of it was the ability to run the last half of the race, taking in the people, the places, and the craziness that is that race. It was pretty cool. I've always been so focused on racing that I never pay attention to all the things around it. I had fun, but was obviously concerned about my lack of energy, but that was answered the next day, as I came down sick, which leads me to believe that I was in the process of getting sick that morning. Simple enough answer.
On Thursday nights, a buddy of mine and I usually go to Road 34 here in town. I've detailed that place here before so I won't go into it, but last night we stopped in for a couple quick beers and we talked, I saw Moose, one of the bartenders, hanging out and having a couple drinks. I hadn't seen him working for a while, so I went over and said hello and inquired to his lack of presence the last couple weeks. He told me that he had quit his job and was moving to San Francisco with his girlfriend. He had no job, no prospects, nothing. Her job was taking her there, and he wanted to be with her, so he's going. I guess there are still people in the world who care enough about each other to do things like that for each other. I had to smile when he told me the story, but saddened at the same time to see him go. He was always good to me, always took care of me and my friends when we came in, and come Monday, (lol) he'll be in Frisco. We covered how things had been for me for a little while, had a drink, hugged, swapped phone numbers and said goodbye. Good luck Moose.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
3 days in the writing
I started writing this about 3 days ago, and had intended to rant a little, but as the days have moved on, I kept getting pulled away, and now the things I was going to talk about have moved to the back burner, as life is happening fast for me right now. But that's a good thing.
I'll hit 2 of the things I had started to write about very quickly, then move on. #1 Bucket List Marathons. I have no problem with this, people of all abilities running a race is one of the great things about running. My only thought is that if you ran one in your life, don't spend the rest of it telling people you are a runner. Or a marathoner in the present tense.
The Raven who was showcased on ESPN. I got into a couple debates about it on Runners World, and all I will say is that at some point, even the healthiest of things can be considered a disease. If they had showcased it by showing all the people coming out to run with him, his clearing of the 100,000 mile mark, and that was it, I would have walked away from the story thinking it was a neat piece. Once they started to talk about how much he hurt, how he couldn't get from room to room some days, how his back was so messed up, it changed the story for me. If I drink 8 beers a day to fight my inner demons, at some point go see a doctor who tells me that I should stop drinking, yet I don't listen, should I be celebrated for this? It's an unpopular opinion I know, but again, just because it's physical activty, doesn't make it healthy when it gets out of hand. And that's all I'm going to say on that anymore.
With Monday rapidly approaching, the Bolder Boulder looms on Memorial Day. I am excited. Although it's just a 10k. it has a marathon like feel to it because over 50,000 people will run it. I have run 4 10k's in my life up to this point, with half of them being in Boulder. My first BB was a mess, with last year's being almost scientific in the way that I ran. I remember talking to Marty and Steve in PM, saying I wanted to run a 42:59, which isn't that fast, but I had run a 46:xx in Boulder the year before, a 44:xx was my PR, and the last 10k I ran was a 46:xx as I was fighting injury trying to get ready for Chicago last year. I ran a 42:58 at last years race, within 1 second. It's a 6:59 pace. The thing is...I have no race plan, I can't even think about a goal time right now. Last year I ran this same race, after running the same marathon, and PR'd. so logic would tell me it's possible for the same thing to happen here. The difference this year is that after I ran my May marathon last year, I took time off, to let myself heal and recover, as opposed to this year, where I took 2 days off running, and I actually biked those days, and got back after it. With 5 weeks between then and Steamboat, I had no time to rest. The curve of recovery to strength again is the biggest question mark for me at this point. Running a poor time at Boulder is not the end of the world, not with 13 days to the Steamboat Marathon, and a taper coming...
On that note, I still don't know what to do about my taper. I ran 5 days as I headed into my last marathon, and think I'll be around the same this time. Although with more miles. I was in the 20's last time, I'm thinking more like 30 something this time.
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. It's the beginning of summer. The beginning of a new season, the best season of all. I'll talk to you after Boulder.
I'll hit 2 of the things I had started to write about very quickly, then move on. #1 Bucket List Marathons. I have no problem with this, people of all abilities running a race is one of the great things about running. My only thought is that if you ran one in your life, don't spend the rest of it telling people you are a runner. Or a marathoner in the present tense.
The Raven who was showcased on ESPN. I got into a couple debates about it on Runners World, and all I will say is that at some point, even the healthiest of things can be considered a disease. If they had showcased it by showing all the people coming out to run with him, his clearing of the 100,000 mile mark, and that was it, I would have walked away from the story thinking it was a neat piece. Once they started to talk about how much he hurt, how he couldn't get from room to room some days, how his back was so messed up, it changed the story for me. If I drink 8 beers a day to fight my inner demons, at some point go see a doctor who tells me that I should stop drinking, yet I don't listen, should I be celebrated for this? It's an unpopular opinion I know, but again, just because it's physical activty, doesn't make it healthy when it gets out of hand. And that's all I'm going to say on that anymore.
With Monday rapidly approaching, the Bolder Boulder looms on Memorial Day. I am excited. Although it's just a 10k. it has a marathon like feel to it because over 50,000 people will run it. I have run 4 10k's in my life up to this point, with half of them being in Boulder. My first BB was a mess, with last year's being almost scientific in the way that I ran. I remember talking to Marty and Steve in PM, saying I wanted to run a 42:59, which isn't that fast, but I had run a 46:xx in Boulder the year before, a 44:xx was my PR, and the last 10k I ran was a 46:xx as I was fighting injury trying to get ready for Chicago last year. I ran a 42:58 at last years race, within 1 second. It's a 6:59 pace. The thing is...I have no race plan, I can't even think about a goal time right now. Last year I ran this same race, after running the same marathon, and PR'd. so logic would tell me it's possible for the same thing to happen here. The difference this year is that after I ran my May marathon last year, I took time off, to let myself heal and recover, as opposed to this year, where I took 2 days off running, and I actually biked those days, and got back after it. With 5 weeks between then and Steamboat, I had no time to rest. The curve of recovery to strength again is the biggest question mark for me at this point. Running a poor time at Boulder is not the end of the world, not with 13 days to the Steamboat Marathon, and a taper coming...
On that note, I still don't know what to do about my taper. I ran 5 days as I headed into my last marathon, and think I'll be around the same this time. Although with more miles. I was in the 20's last time, I'm thinking more like 30 something this time.
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. It's the beginning of summer. The beginning of a new season, the best season of all. I'll talk to you after Boulder.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
20 miles, are you kidding?
Two weeks exactly has passed since the Colorado Marathon, and 3 weeks remains till Steamboat. After my 10 last weekend, in which I stopped every 2.5 miles to walk and give myself a break, I had been feeling stronger each day as I ran. Although last night, I ran .10 miles after work. My boss is out of town, and I worked 6 days and about 58 hours. I figured I was entitled. I went home and showered instead, meeting my buddy Sean at the Town Pump, Ft. Collins' smallest bar, and then we went to Coopersmiths before I came home and called it a night. It had been a long week for both of us, and I needed some sleep in advance of the 20 miler. I had been feeling good on most my runs, so I felt confident.
I went to Gib's NY Bagel shop this morning. http://gibsbagels.com/ and had breakfast. I came home and did laundry for a few, and got out for the run around 10:30 am. It was already 70 degrees. I felt pretty good for the first half of the run, but by mile 13, I had stopped sweating, which is bad. It meant I was dehydrated. Long story short, I pushed till 18 or so before it really started to go bad. At 18.5, an ice cream truck went by. The fact I had no money on me is the only reason the big ice cream cookie is not still in my belly. I wrapped up the run, my calves, and my toe were hurting, but not injured. Looks like Steamboat is a go.
I really hope to BQ in Steamboat. Part of the reason why is that I will not have to run a fall marathon then. I can run 5 and 10 k's for the summer, build base, but mostly is that I can still go to Chicago in October without having to worry about marathoning the next weekend. It's a trip I've grown to love, although for different reasons this year. I'm starting to think it's importaint that I go.
With a change in what I usually do during the summers, I have made plans to go out east this year. I booked a flight to the east coast on Friday to see a friend of mine, that I am sure never thought I would make my way out to visit him, I hope the big city is ready for a little country. And I hope that they are all ready to see me.
Next Monday is Boulder. I signed up last week. It's a special race for me, and another milestone race. This and Horsetooth are the only races that I have done each year since I started running. I'm very excited this year, and the weather looks good for a nice race. I don't know what to expect out of Boulder, except a good time, but I can't wait.
Thanks for reading this everyone, not much to report now, but felt like I wanted to say hi.
I went to Gib's NY Bagel shop this morning. http://gibsbagels.com/ and had breakfast. I came home and did laundry for a few, and got out for the run around 10:30 am. It was already 70 degrees. I felt pretty good for the first half of the run, but by mile 13, I had stopped sweating, which is bad. It meant I was dehydrated. Long story short, I pushed till 18 or so before it really started to go bad. At 18.5, an ice cream truck went by. The fact I had no money on me is the only reason the big ice cream cookie is not still in my belly. I wrapped up the run, my calves, and my toe were hurting, but not injured. Looks like Steamboat is a go.
I really hope to BQ in Steamboat. Part of the reason why is that I will not have to run a fall marathon then. I can run 5 and 10 k's for the summer, build base, but mostly is that I can still go to Chicago in October without having to worry about marathoning the next weekend. It's a trip I've grown to love, although for different reasons this year. I'm starting to think it's importaint that I go.
With a change in what I usually do during the summers, I have made plans to go out east this year. I booked a flight to the east coast on Friday to see a friend of mine, that I am sure never thought I would make my way out to visit him, I hope the big city is ready for a little country. And I hope that they are all ready to see me.
Next Monday is Boulder. I signed up last week. It's a special race for me, and another milestone race. This and Horsetooth are the only races that I have done each year since I started running. I'm very excited this year, and the weather looks good for a nice race. I don't know what to expect out of Boulder, except a good time, but I can't wait.
Thanks for reading this everyone, not much to report now, but felt like I wanted to say hi.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
One Weeks Time
So a week removed from the Colorado Marathon, I've run 4 days since then. Wednesday was 3 miles, Thursday was 5 miles. I took Friday off, knocked out another 5 on Saturday, followed by a 10 mile run on Sunday in the rain. I feel pretty weak still, but not as weak as a have after the last 2 marathons. I'm encouraged. This week I think I'll pick up a few today, take tomorrow off, then try another 10 miler after work on Wednesday, go between 5 and 7 for the remaining days, then spike a 20 mile run on Sunday. It gets me into the 40's for the week this week, and then gets me one more long run as I push to Steamboat. My boss is on vacation this week, so I get to work 7a-6p straight M-F this week, and then 7a-4p straight on Saturday. This couldn't have come at a worse time as I try to finish my preparations, but it's just another hurdle to get over. The week after, I will try a medium long run on Saturday, rest Sunday, then off to the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. I'm starting to get excited for that one, although I haven't had much time to process much of anything here lately. I'm pretty much just trying to get through each day and move onto the next. Life as I had known it for a while has started to look a little smaller in the rear view mirror, and the next thing for me to address is where I live. It has been time for me to move for a little while now, but I had been waiting on some stuff. Looks like I'm ready to get some new digs.
In other news, I find myself getting caught up a little bit in the Denver Nuggets playoff run that they have going. I don't watch a lot of pro basketball anymore, but near the end of the season, as the Nugs grabbed the #2 seed in the Western Conference, I started to pay closer attention. I think I was like everyone else around here, thinking that it's great, but when they run across Kobe and the Lakers, that the same thing that always happens will happen. Well we sit here today, the Nuggets can close the series with Dallas tonight, and the Lakers are in a dogfight with the Rockets, who dismantled them yesterday minus Yao. I still think in the end that the Lakers are too much, but it would be nice to see the Nuggets finish whe Mavs off tonight and then have Kobe and the boys have to fight and bang with Houston for another 3 games.
Manny was caught being Manny this last week, and although it's a "No sh*t" moment for most of the world, it's still bad for baseball. I'm not a fan of his, or the Dodgers, and the bad part is that the Dodgers will probably still be in first place when he comes off suspension. The funny part has been listening to the Sox fans talk about how the team took out the trash before he got busted. You have to be a moron to think that he wasn't doping while with Boston. It's funny how it's ok when someone like that plays for your own team, how skewed a point of view can be.
I am putting some thought into what I'm going to do with my summer. Obviously I'm going to do a lot of running, and what happens on June 7th will go a long way to tell me what I will be doing with my summer. If I BQ, then I may bypass any fall marathons this year, and maybe work on a sub 20 5k, or see if I can blow through my half marathon PR. It might open me up for a trip or two, as the last couple years I have gone to only a couple places, and used the rest of my time off for in town visitors. I'm thinking of someplace that will make me happy, where I can have fun.
In other news, I find myself getting caught up a little bit in the Denver Nuggets playoff run that they have going. I don't watch a lot of pro basketball anymore, but near the end of the season, as the Nugs grabbed the #2 seed in the Western Conference, I started to pay closer attention. I think I was like everyone else around here, thinking that it's great, but when they run across Kobe and the Lakers, that the same thing that always happens will happen. Well we sit here today, the Nuggets can close the series with Dallas tonight, and the Lakers are in a dogfight with the Rockets, who dismantled them yesterday minus Yao. I still think in the end that the Lakers are too much, but it would be nice to see the Nuggets finish whe Mavs off tonight and then have Kobe and the boys have to fight and bang with Houston for another 3 games.
Manny was caught being Manny this last week, and although it's a "No sh*t" moment for most of the world, it's still bad for baseball. I'm not a fan of his, or the Dodgers, and the bad part is that the Dodgers will probably still be in first place when he comes off suspension. The funny part has been listening to the Sox fans talk about how the team took out the trash before he got busted. You have to be a moron to think that he wasn't doping while with Boston. It's funny how it's ok when someone like that plays for your own team, how skewed a point of view can be.
I am putting some thought into what I'm going to do with my summer. Obviously I'm going to do a lot of running, and what happens on June 7th will go a long way to tell me what I will be doing with my summer. If I BQ, then I may bypass any fall marathons this year, and maybe work on a sub 20 5k, or see if I can blow through my half marathon PR. It might open me up for a trip or two, as the last couple years I have gone to only a couple places, and used the rest of my time off for in town visitors. I'm thinking of someplace that will make me happy, where I can have fun.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Colorado Marathon
I posted a pretty long race report on RW, but thought I would do something a little more complete here, if for nothing more than having it for myself, as the RW one will slide off the front page and be lost for all time in the next day or so. I had some things on my mind that I thought running this race would help, help me move on, help me find peace. What I found is that when I woke up race morning, as I got ready to catch the bus up to the start line, a lot of memories from last years pre race were there. I smiled a lot, and was very much distracted.
I spoke of my training log in my last post, how little I had run. On Friday I went to the running store, bought some GU's, which I hadn't even used one since this same marathon last year. I had 2 Powerbar Gels from a previous missed long run, so I bought 3 Gu packs, called rocket or something. I mention this because it shows how really unprepared I was. I also switched Gatorade flavors to carry to, because the Fruit Punch might have stained my new "Kal" racing shirt I made. I bought some orange on my way to the buses.
Once I stepped on the bus though, I filled with fear. The last time my legs saw 20 miles was this marathon last year. I felt ok, but as I talked about in my last entry, I had done very little running the last month or so. My weight was up to around 182, and I had been biking and using an eliptical, but not nearly enough for a guy who was trying to marathon. I really thought about asking them to let me off the bus.
We got up the canyon and I was so nervous. I watched the digital thermomoter on the bus continue to drop as we headed up the canyon, till it settled around 37. My drop bag had some warmer weather stuff in it, but turns out it was perfect. The girl from Fox 31 in Denver was running so I watched their news the night before, figuring on a weather report geared to this event. They said rain and 30's. There wasn't a cloud in the sky though. Another perfect race day. I met Jon, Victoria, and Sean, three people I met from RW the day before at the start line. And literally before I knew it, the gun went off...
Miles:
1 : 7:58
2: 7:46
3: 7:42
4: 7:23
5: 7:32
6: 7:48
7: 7:34
8: 7:53
9: 7:45
10: 7:40
11: 7:56
12: 7:54
13: 7:52
14: 7:43
15: 7:48
16: 7:50
17: 7:49
18: 7:47
19: 8:01 Here we go. The one thing I will say is that I was amazed how long it took for me to get into the 8's. Plus this had the first big uphill on ot once you are out of the canyon.
20: 8:10
21: 7:59 No clue how that happened
22: 8:19
23: 8:50
24: 8:39
25: 8:59
26: 8:42
.38: 3:47
3:30:41 on the gun.
At the 8 mile mark, I was doing the math in my head, if I sped up, I could still run a BQ I told myself. That thought lasted about 30 seconds. I went through the half about 3 minutes faster than I ran the Horsetooth Half 2 weeks prior. Around 17 or so, I started to think about beating last years time. Around 20, I was thinking I could get in under 3:30. It's easy to see that the last 6 or so miles were hard on me, they have been each other time I've run a marathon. The last miles seemed easier to me. At least easier than before.
I spoke before of how this run was supposed to be a sort of therapy for me, thinking I would go out and get lost in the beauty of the canyons, the river, the trees. I was out there for 3.5 hours and except for one location around mile 18 or so, I thought about the run the entire time. I don't remember much of what I was thinking at that point, but the race was on my mind the entire time. This was a completely musicless race for me. I did not wear an IPOD for any runs during the training and did the race with nothing but my thoughts.
The entire way down the canyon, I thought about watching my pace. At the 10k mark, when I screamed out "Just 20 to go.", the crowd seemed less than impressed. Tight asses. As I climbed the hill to Ted's Place, right around mile 17, there was tremendous crowd support. A got called Kal a couple times, since it was on my shirt, and also had people say I was still smiling. I was because I was happy knowing that within a couple miles, even if I crashed, I could still walk in and have a 4 hour marathon. Around 18 or so, a kid from the Marines and I started running together and talking. He said he could feel cramps coming on, and we distracted each other with talks of other marathons and times we had run. When I hung the corner to get on the bike trail, I remember my legs locking up at that point last year, but I pushed on. As I crossed the wooden bridges where the last miles are ran, and also where I had been running about 4 times a week before the injuries, and where the HTH finished, I shuffled off to the dirt trail that runs along the path and used it for a lot more of the race. I told myself, just make the tunnel that's halfway to the next water station, and you can walk for a little while. When I reached the tunnel, I talked myself into making that water station. I walked through every one, start to finish. I carried my own Gatorade, but got water and a few second break at each one. It made a lot of difference for me. Just after that water station, someone says "Keep it up Kal, nice job." I looked over, and the kid who caught me at mile 4 of Horsetooth was there. I asked him why it took him that long to catch me, lol. I'm proud to say, I saw his first post on the marathon thread this morning. I made the next water station, walked through it, and got going once more. About another half mile or so, me and a kid from Utah started to talk. He had run RNRAZ in January and was doing this, same as I did last year. He wanted to stop and walk and I told him just to stay with me till the water stop, we would walk through it and go to the finish. As we approached about 25.5, there are 2 hills there that you have to do. I warned him about them, seeing as he had never run the course before. We hung the last corner and had about .40 to go, he took off, and I had nothing left. I went in as fast as I could, but it was more like a jog, a lot like the rest of the run.
I learned more about marathoning on this one day than I had ever known before. I didn't run in Chicago because I was unprepared, but also because I was scared. When this same race went bad for me last year, it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my running career. I was afraid of how it felt at the end, how when it got tough that I would quit and I didn't want that feeling again, never in my life. I learned a lot about myself yesterday. More than I have in a long time. And I hope to apply it in the next 5 weeks, and for the rest of my running career.
Thanks to Stephen and Kyle, both of you helped a lot the day before the race. Sean, both my buddy from here, and from Wyoming, you guys are awesome, as was Jon, and everyone else I met this weekend.
So I have 5 weeks to Steamboat. I'm trying to figure out a running schedule that gets me there, and gets me 15 minutes in about 2 weeks. A lot of those minutes will be confidence. There is a half in Denver I might race on the 17th, then the Boldre Boulder is on the 25th. Then I would have a 13 day taper into Steamboat. Where to stick a 20 miler in there is the question, as I don't think I can do it this weekend. I'll keep you updated.
I spoke of my training log in my last post, how little I had run. On Friday I went to the running store, bought some GU's, which I hadn't even used one since this same marathon last year. I had 2 Powerbar Gels from a previous missed long run, so I bought 3 Gu packs, called rocket or something. I mention this because it shows how really unprepared I was. I also switched Gatorade flavors to carry to, because the Fruit Punch might have stained my new "Kal" racing shirt I made. I bought some orange on my way to the buses.
Once I stepped on the bus though, I filled with fear. The last time my legs saw 20 miles was this marathon last year. I felt ok, but as I talked about in my last entry, I had done very little running the last month or so. My weight was up to around 182, and I had been biking and using an eliptical, but not nearly enough for a guy who was trying to marathon. I really thought about asking them to let me off the bus.
We got up the canyon and I was so nervous. I watched the digital thermomoter on the bus continue to drop as we headed up the canyon, till it settled around 37. My drop bag had some warmer weather stuff in it, but turns out it was perfect. The girl from Fox 31 in Denver was running so I watched their news the night before, figuring on a weather report geared to this event. They said rain and 30's. There wasn't a cloud in the sky though. Another perfect race day. I met Jon, Victoria, and Sean, three people I met from RW the day before at the start line. And literally before I knew it, the gun went off...
Miles:
1 : 7:58
2: 7:46
3: 7:42
4: 7:23
5: 7:32
6: 7:48
7: 7:34
8: 7:53
9: 7:45
10: 7:40
11: 7:56
12: 7:54
13: 7:52
14: 7:43
15: 7:48
16: 7:50
17: 7:49
18: 7:47
19: 8:01 Here we go. The one thing I will say is that I was amazed how long it took for me to get into the 8's. Plus this had the first big uphill on ot once you are out of the canyon.
20: 8:10
21: 7:59 No clue how that happened
22: 8:19
23: 8:50
24: 8:39
25: 8:59
26: 8:42
.38: 3:47
3:30:41 on the gun.
At the 8 mile mark, I was doing the math in my head, if I sped up, I could still run a BQ I told myself. That thought lasted about 30 seconds. I went through the half about 3 minutes faster than I ran the Horsetooth Half 2 weeks prior. Around 17 or so, I started to think about beating last years time. Around 20, I was thinking I could get in under 3:30. It's easy to see that the last 6 or so miles were hard on me, they have been each other time I've run a marathon. The last miles seemed easier to me. At least easier than before.
I spoke before of how this run was supposed to be a sort of therapy for me, thinking I would go out and get lost in the beauty of the canyons, the river, the trees. I was out there for 3.5 hours and except for one location around mile 18 or so, I thought about the run the entire time. I don't remember much of what I was thinking at that point, but the race was on my mind the entire time. This was a completely musicless race for me. I did not wear an IPOD for any runs during the training and did the race with nothing but my thoughts.
The entire way down the canyon, I thought about watching my pace. At the 10k mark, when I screamed out "Just 20 to go.", the crowd seemed less than impressed. Tight asses. As I climbed the hill to Ted's Place, right around mile 17, there was tremendous crowd support. A got called Kal a couple times, since it was on my shirt, and also had people say I was still smiling. I was because I was happy knowing that within a couple miles, even if I crashed, I could still walk in and have a 4 hour marathon. Around 18 or so, a kid from the Marines and I started running together and talking. He said he could feel cramps coming on, and we distracted each other with talks of other marathons and times we had run. When I hung the corner to get on the bike trail, I remember my legs locking up at that point last year, but I pushed on. As I crossed the wooden bridges where the last miles are ran, and also where I had been running about 4 times a week before the injuries, and where the HTH finished, I shuffled off to the dirt trail that runs along the path and used it for a lot more of the race. I told myself, just make the tunnel that's halfway to the next water station, and you can walk for a little while. When I reached the tunnel, I talked myself into making that water station. I walked through every one, start to finish. I carried my own Gatorade, but got water and a few second break at each one. It made a lot of difference for me. Just after that water station, someone says "Keep it up Kal, nice job." I looked over, and the kid who caught me at mile 4 of Horsetooth was there. I asked him why it took him that long to catch me, lol. I'm proud to say, I saw his first post on the marathon thread this morning. I made the next water station, walked through it, and got going once more. About another half mile or so, me and a kid from Utah started to talk. He had run RNRAZ in January and was doing this, same as I did last year. He wanted to stop and walk and I told him just to stay with me till the water stop, we would walk through it and go to the finish. As we approached about 25.5, there are 2 hills there that you have to do. I warned him about them, seeing as he had never run the course before. We hung the last corner and had about .40 to go, he took off, and I had nothing left. I went in as fast as I could, but it was more like a jog, a lot like the rest of the run.
I learned more about marathoning on this one day than I had ever known before. I didn't run in Chicago because I was unprepared, but also because I was scared. When this same race went bad for me last year, it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my running career. I was afraid of how it felt at the end, how when it got tough that I would quit and I didn't want that feeling again, never in my life. I learned a lot about myself yesterday. More than I have in a long time. And I hope to apply it in the next 5 weeks, and for the rest of my running career.
Thanks to Stephen and Kyle, both of you helped a lot the day before the race. Sean, both my buddy from here, and from Wyoming, you guys are awesome, as was Jon, and everyone else I met this weekend.
So I have 5 weeks to Steamboat. I'm trying to figure out a running schedule that gets me there, and gets me 15 minutes in about 2 weeks. A lot of those minutes will be confidence. There is a half in Denver I might race on the 17th, then the Boldre Boulder is on the 25th. Then I would have a 13 day taper into Steamboat. Where to stick a 20 miler in there is the question, as I don't think I can do it this weekend. I'll keep you updated.
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