My Fifth Marathon

A short five weeks ago, I shared my trying story of running a marathon while having the flu. In retrospect, yes, that was a bit crazy. At the time, it seemed very logical. About two weeks after that fiasco, I decided I would do another one. I really wanted to find out how well I could do under healthy conditions. This proved to be a bit tricky as I didn't want to travel far and wanted to do one relatively soon. I hose the Mardi Gras marathon in New Orleans. Though it is a small race, it boasted a flat, fast course. My plan was to do one long ~20 mile run before the race and just try to maintain my speed as much as possible. One week out, I felt strong and ready.

I was monitoring the weather by the hour almost starting 7 days out. I could sign up the day before, so I decided I would only run if it was a good weather day. For a marathon, this means, temps in the 50s or below, no rain, and no wind. This is pretty much what they were forecasting, so by Wednesday I decided I would run for sure. The plan was to leave early on Saturday to get to New Orleans by early afternoon. I took my fan club with me (like they would stay home) and we made it to New Orleans a short 6 hours later. I'll spare you the details of the road construction, accidents, and standstill traffic conditions along the way. We went straight to the expo, signed up for the race, and then headed to our hotel. We ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, an unlikely choice in the French Quarter. The grilled chicken salad was great, but I would have much preferred the scrumptious hamburger my parents ate. I figured I could have one after the race. Our hotel was conveniently located near the Superdome, which is where the race began and ended. However I didn't realize that it was also right next to an all-night dance club. Little did we know. Apparently there was loud music just outside our window all night. I don't know because I managed to sleep through all of that. I did hear voices of people laughing and talking when I awakened at 5:15 the next morning. They were just leaving the night club at that point. Nice.

I felt good that morning. The weather was perfect and I was excited to race again. There were about 1500 marathoners, so I was able to get a good spot near the front for the start. We lunged forward as a group when the gun went off. I sailed through the first few miles at a fast clip. A bit too fast, I admit. I was caught up with the crowd and feeling good and seeing all the sights of the French Quarter. By mile 5, I realized that I was keeping at 8 minute/mile pace. That is just a bit too fast for me. My goal was to average an 8:24 pace in order to qualify for Boston. Really, I just wanted to improve my time from last year, which was a 3:52. So, at that point I tried slowing down a bit. But every time I looked down at my watch (a Garmin that gives me sort of accurate pace information as well as distance via GPS), I was still holding close to 8 min/mile. Well, I thought I'll just hold on for as long as I can keep this up. The sights were beautiful. We ran through two parks. There were plenty of spectators for the first 16 miles. Every one from the all-nighters on Bourbon Street to grandpa in his pajamas came out to cheer us on. It was quite entertaining. I started to wane around mile 16. I climbed a mountain at mile 17 (really just an overpass). I almost twisted my ankle at mile 18. I took a last swig of Gatorade and downed some jelly beans at mile 19. I was starting to think that maybe I could hit the 3:40 goal. My calculations indicated that I just needed to hold a 9 min/mile pace in order to make that. Easier said than done. My energy quickly left me and I had to fight for every step in the remaining 6 miles. I was just done and wanted to stop badly. I kept telling my self that stopping was not an option! Unfortunately, I got slower with every mile. I wasn't able to pick it up until the very end when I finally saw the Superdome again. I turned the last corner to run the last ~200 yards in. I looked up and saw 3:41 on the board. I took a deep breath and charged to the finish line. Every thing in my body hurt and I felt like I could pass out at any moment. But alas, I crossed the finish line, arms in the air, victorious once again. I was overcome at finishing in 3:41:48. While I just missed the qualifying time of 3:40 I was ecstatic at shattering my previous best by 11 minutes. Praise the Lord! It was awesome.

In the after glow of such a race, I am sore and content. I know now that I have 3:40 within my reach. I don't know when I'll attempt it again, but for now I am okay with taking a week off and enjoying the sweet victory.

Stretching before the race.

My loyal fan club.

A very happy finish.