I left the house at 5:40am... Two hours away, lay the tiny hamlet of Germantown, Ohio. I was preparing for the first of 3 marathon or better distances I would do in the 2nd half of the year. Today, I was going solo. Rose and the kids still in bed asleep, while daddy goes off and runs like an idiot in the woods. Eventually after finding a gas station that had humane restrooms, I grabbed a Red Bull and a PowerBar as my last course of breakfast. I got to the park without much fanfare, changing in the van. Soon enough 8:30 came around and 66 contestants started off on their 31 mile trek through a combination of the Five Rivers Park. The beginning of the race seemed a little warm up, just some ups and downs on cross country ski paths.
I was planning to adhere to a very strict gameplan of running 25 minutes and then walking 5. I have been doing this for my long runs and had already done a 30 mile run in July using this plan. The idea is, you allow other muscles to work while giving the ones you use running a chance to regroup. After the first 25 I really didn't want to stop, but knowing how bad I have crashed in the past and knowing how hot it would get, I thought it the wiser to stick to the plan.
The trail quickly got rockier and very "rooty". They had just cleared some of the trail we were on and there will still little stumps all over the place... I tripped over one, somehow was able to tense up my whole body and keep myself from crashing... good save!At about mile 10 I started getting some sharp blister type pains right where my socks end. They were a new pair, the kind that I always run in ... Goes to prove, "never run a race with something new" Well, being that they were new, they moved around alittle more than ones that are worn... combine that with grit and mud and I started getting blisters that felt like someone was cutting my Achilles with piano wire...nothing that makes you want to quit, but sure make you want to kick the SOB doing it. I quickly took off my shoes, pulled my socks tight and got going again. They really didn't bug me again, till I took a shower that night!
I kept with the schedule and found that I would pass a bunch of people, then at my walk break they would catch back up... eventually I got enough distance on them that I never saw them again, this continued for the whole race... there was one woman who seemed a little pisst with my system. Seems everytime I caught up to her, it was on the "gnarliest" (her word) parts of the trail... I mean she didn't seem real mad, but I guess I would get annoyed if I had some 200lb. shithead running up my ass as I went down a steep rocky slope... well, I passed her at mile 15 for the last time.
Along with my run/walk plan, my nutrition plan was pretty simple, a GU every 45 minutes, carry water and Gatorade and eat a little along the way... at the mile 16 stop I got a couple halves of peanut butter and jelly. Its crazy but you find that after running that far you don't give a shit that the sandwich you are eating has one of the end slices of bread... yup, the one that usually goes to the ducks.... you just look at it and say, "Hopefully, it has more calories!" I washed it down with a little flat coke, refilled my water and Gatorade bottle and got moving.... best not to fall in love with aid stations, very easy to stay there.
About a mile later I was pleased with the fact that I had to urinate... a good sign that I was staying hydrated. so i cozied up to a tree and did my business, pale yellow, like lemonade, perfect!.... Unfortunately, my aim was a little bad and I realized I peed right on my shoe... oh, well, that will come out in the wash!
Four miles later I start hitting some rough patches... some paved sections out in the sun... some more of the cross country ski paths... the sameness of the terrain and the fatigue got my quads locking up. A cramp right in the muscle just above my knee.. Nothing new... just now I know I'll be fighting an energy deficit for the next 2 and half hours. I quickly down another GU, chase it with some Gatorade and pop 2 Advil... That gets me into the next aid station, I caught another runner there, but looks like he would not be in the hunt anymore... he evidently had lost his hearing out on the course.... that must suck! Nothing like whole body functions that seem to have no relation, breaking down on you.
I was amazed at how my walking seemed to get faster through the day, like I was catching some guys while they were trying to run... and then when it was time for me to pick it up again, I blew past them... not that I am fast or anything... but it was a great feeling to be catching people at the end of a race, as opposed to the other way around. I felt like an ancient hunter, stalking my prey, over the course of 30 miles till the point of their exhaustion, where I then rip out their heart! (Picture bare feet, loincloths, and PB&J!)
Finally the run came to a conclusion, I got to the finish line, got my Pint Glass and a button down race shirt ( nice change of pace)... I grabbed a couple of slices of pizza and hit the road. I got home at 5 and we all went out for Dairy Queen... (Very big in Indiana, pretty much the only place to get ice cream.)
In conclusion, I did the 31 miles in 6:17 coming in 22nd place out of 66... That would be 12:08 min/mile. Considering I walked at least 10 minutes of every hour, I a pretty happy with covering 5 miles an hour on that type of terrain! Pretty good for a fat guy! (Though I was thinking many times along the way that these things would be easier if I lost 15 pounds. Pretty sore right now... with good amount of pain in my right hip...must be my pelvic alignment, or out-of alignment, whatever the case may be. I also think I peed blood this afternoon, but I'm sure that will pass... If I don't post anything else, mark October 18th as the next big race... I'll keep you posted!
