One reason I wanted to do the Nike Women’s Marathon is the Team in Training inspiration dinner. It is by far the largest in the area, and possibly the largest of its kind. This year, it was held in the Moscone Center. I heard we had about 3,000 guests!
Our special guests were TNT founder Bruce Cleland and his daughter, Georgia, who was the original honoree. He was there to celebrate TNT’s 25th anniversary. We also had a really touching pair of guest speakers. It was a mother and daughter from Indiana. I forget their names, but the daughter has Down’s Syndrome and was diagnosed with a blood cancer when she was 7. Now 16 and cancer-free, she had set her sights on running this year’s NWM. It was very emotional. IIRC, her team was also a top fundraiser. I hope she crossed the finish line!
UPDATE: the mother’s name is Jenny Deputy and her daughter is Mickey. They both finished their race in 3:27:22!
After the dinner, I tried to go to sleep. I actually did manage to fall asleep right away…then I woke up 30 minutes later and stayed awake until 1 hour before I was supposed to wake up. Fortunately, I got lots of sleep leading up to this weekend…and I know that it’s not super-important to get a lot of sleep the night before an endurance event. But I tried my hardest not to toss and turn so I wouldn’t disrupt my roommate’s sleep.
We met at the coaches’ hotel at 5am for a final pep talk, then headed to the starting area. Since my running partner got really sick at the last moment and had to drop out of the race, I was going to have to run this by myself. But I waited in the last corral with some teammates who were doing the half-marathon, so I had lots of company at the beginning.
With about 30,000 runners, it took about 40 minutes just to cross the starting line. The elite runners start first when the starter’s gun goes off. These are people who actually have a chance to win the races (marathon and half-marathon). Then, everyone is sorted by anticipated running pace. Since I would be running at a greater than 11-minute/mile pace, I was in the last corral. So, I was among the last to start.
When I finally did start, I’d gotten separated from my friends. But I was focused on my race strategy. I wanted to run at a slow, steady pace through the first half of the race where all of the hills are, then re-evaulate my pace based on how I felt after getting to the Great Highway.
The first few miles were slightly downhill, which made it easy on the legs. It was also super-crowded, which made it easy to stick to my pace. Trying to run fast would’ve meant dodging lots of people. Having run the SJ RNR half-marathon twice, I was used to the people who don’t have any road manners and just stop running right in front of you and start walking. Traditional running etiquette says you move to the side of the road to do that. But whatever, you just deal with it.
The first hill was pretty steep, so I decided to walk up it. In fact, it would’ve been really hard to run up it since EVERYONE was walking it. After that, I decided to walk most of the hills.
At the 10km mark, my time was right where I wanted it to be: about 13 minutes/mile. I was hoping to finish faster than that, like I did during the SJ RNR tune-up race two weeks prior, but that was not to be.
The weather was perfect for running. It was cool, almost cold, and very foggy. That meant very few people were stopping at random places to take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and other landmarks. It also meant I wasn’t going to be sweating profusely. This would help me greatly after the halfway mark.
Speaking of the halfway point, it was in Golden Gate Park. I was familiar with it since I’d spent a lot of time this summer at the Outside Lands music festival and I’d run through it at Bay to Breakers. But this course ran the other way, so what was a gentle downhill during Bay to Breakers was a tough, grinding uphill on this course. Still, the time I gained during the long downhill by the Cliff House made up for all the walking I did in GGP, so I was a little ahead of my 13.1-mile goal time of 3 hours.
Part of our training had us running part of the marathon course, so I knew a lot of what to expect. I formed my strategy based on this experience. After leaving the park, I knew the Great Hwy and the road around Lake Merced were pretty flat, so I hoped to make up my time on this section. However, I underestimated how hard it was to run 26.2 miles. Also, I underestimated how hard it would be to run up the “gentle” grade on the Great Hwy. So by Mile 18, I was really starting to stiffen up. I knew I would not be running the second half faster than the first.
At this point in the story, I’ll back-track a bit. Our coaches told us that we should have several goals for our races. One is to finish. Simply crossing the finish line of an endurance event is a major achievement. Two is to have a realistic time goal. Three is to have a spectacular goal. My training has gone so well, I knew I’d finish as long as nothing went really wrong, like I twisted an ankle or got an upset stomach. To avoid the latter, I only ate at places I trusted: no fast food! So, I set a realistic time goal of 6 hours, 30 minutes. Word spread in the days leading up to the race that the course would close at 1:30pm and anyone who hadn’t finished by then would be picked up by the sweeper van and disqualified. So, in order to be an “official” finisher, I figured I would have to finish in 6:30 just to be sure. My ideal, “everything went perfect” goal was 6 hours. I also added two extra goals. First would be to not cry at the end when all the cameras are on you. Second, and the hardest goal of all, would be to not cry at all during the race. This would be the hardest because our honorees are so inspiring, I sometimes draw emotional strength from them…and squirt a few tears in the process.
So, back to the race. I’d been doing pace and goal calculations all throughout the race to keep track of my strategy and also because there comes a point where your endorphin-engourged brain can’t do math any longer. That point is the prelude to “the wall.” And based on my calculations and my assessment of my physical state, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to break the 6-hour mark.
Speaking of math, I had been trying to run 4/1 intervals all day, which are pretty easy to calculate. When you look at your watch whatever time it says ends in a 4 or a 9, you walk for a minute. Simple, right? But when I ran with Coach Tim on the Great Hwy, he said I should think about shortening the interval to 3/1. I told him I’d try, but 4/1 math is easy. 3/1 math might not work so well. He got a kick out of that. But, because he’s my coach, I tried.
Although my math skills were quickly eroding, my spirits remained good. Famed running columnist and motivational speaker John “The Penguin” Bingham told us during the Inspirational Dinner that we would enter the “Bite Me” zone around Mile 23. Amazingly, I never did. But I caught up to a teammate around Mile 24 who definitely had. He posted a picture of him flipping off the Mile 19 sign, which is when he hit the wall. So by the time I caught him (which probably didn’t help his mood any), he was definitely in the Bite Me zone. He didn’t actually snap at me, but I could tell that he needed to be alone. So, I was going to leave him, but before I did, I told him “We’ll probably leap-frog each other, so I’ll see you on the home stretch.” I knew I’d finish before he did, but I still had enough wits about me that I knew telling him, “I’ll see you at the finish line,” wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do 🙂
Throughout the race, TNT coaches line the course, running with you, checking on your progress, boosting your morale and making sure you have everything you need. And all of our coaches are terrific. But the last half mile belongs to Coach Tim. He “runs you in” but you cover the last quarter mile or so by yourself because, according to him, “the finish line belongs to you.” My friends Paulie and Rich also ran with me during that part. I don’t remember much from that part, but I do remember when the finish line came into view, Tim said, “there’s the finish line.” And I said, “FUCK YEAH!” It was poetic, or at least it seemed that way at the time.
I looked down at my watch, which isn’t “official time,” and thought I might be close to 6 hours. I could see the finish line, so I thought I’d “leave it all out on the course.” I ran as fast as I could, which wasn’t all that fast, raised my arms in triumph as I passed the photographers, and crossed the finish line 6 hours and 45 seconds after I started.
John Bingham says you’re a marathoner the moment you cross the starting line. And that once you do, you are changed forever. But I’m now a marathon finisher. It was incredibly hard, but not nearly as hard as what our honorees go through to beat cancer. I credit one honoree in particular with keeping me grounded as I completed this race. I wore a “Team Sylvia” button on my hydration vest. She’s one of the strongest women I know. She has undergone two cancer treatments and stem cell therapy. 45 days after her last treatment, she walked 5.1 miles in the San Jose Rock and Roll Mini-Marathon. Her motto is “quitting is not an option.” So every once in a while, I touched my Team Sylvia button and drew strength from her.
And that’s why I never hit “the wall.”
I don’t know if I’ll run another marathon. Training is really hard, and when you’re as slow as I am, it just takes a lot out of you. I have already registered for the San Francisco Rock and Roll half marathon in April, so, despite volunteering to be a mentor on the Spring Cycle Team, I’ll have to continue to run through the winter in order to be ready for it. Maybe my goals for running will be to try to get faster while running shorter distances. I think half-marathons are the perfect distance; they’re long enough that I have to train for them, but short enough that I can do them in less than three hours. But who knows? If I can lower my half-marathon PR to around 2 hours, maybe I’ll try another marathon. Until then, I couldn’t be happier with my first marathon experience.
