Two Races in One

It's been over 72 hours since the finish of the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa and I'm just now sitting down to write about it. For me it was two separate races, one good and one horrible. But let's start at the beginning.

The morning was mild, with starting temperature around 50 degrees. The wind wasn't as bad as we'd feared, and it was overcast with the sun peaking through at times. Our hotel was a few blocks away from the start, and we made it over to the corrals about ten minutes before pistol. The key condition that wasn't readily apparent was that the humidity was over 90%. I felt in pretty good shape and thought a four-hour finish seemed possible. I lined up between the 4 and 4:10 pace groups. If I kept the 4-hour pacer in sight I could run a consistent time and hopefully meet or beat my goal.

The first few miles are always a blur and go by quickly. Between miles 3-4 the Virtual Running Buddy decided we were going too fast for his plan, and he dropped back. That's what I should have done, too, but I let several of the downhills carry me fast and I left him behind. Looking back on this race I can see that I never felt truly loosened up, which usually happens at that point in the run. The first half went okay, though, and I finished the initial 13.1 in 1:59:11, right on the pace I was looking for. The GPS, which I'd fixed and thought would be a good help, died right before mile 9. That was unfortunate because I was unable to keep track of my pace by myself from then on, although I was able to do so by staying with the appropriate pacers.

The second half I kept the pace group in sight, and even passed them a couple of times. They would pass me back at water stops, but it seemed to be going just fine. I reached mile 20 in 3:03:24, setting me up for a sub-four hour finish. Then the wheels came off.

Right before mile 20 I stepped in a crack in the asphalt with my right foot, and when I corrected my stride I felt a twinge in my left calf. It was weird, but that was the first sign of trouble. I wore my compression socks for this race, which was the first time, and I can now say they probably kept me from having trouble before this point in the race. Unfortunately they couldn't keep all the cramps away and I quickly found myself having to walk and then run for a short distance. As the course took us through the University of Tulsa campus I walked a couple of times and was then able to start running again. When I got to mile 22 I found that it was impossible to run at all any more. I could run about a hundred yards and then the calf cramps would overwhelm me. At one point I felt a cramp in my right calf like an ostrich egg in the muscle ,and I had to pull over to the sidewalk and spend a minute stretching it. At that point I had to decide if I was going to walk the rest of the way or quit. I'm not a quitter and I wasn't willing to give up after all the training of the past several months, so I set out to walk. And that's what I did.

There was a banner at mile 25.9 and I thought hey, I can run the last little bit. Except I couldn't. The same thing happened after about a hundred yards. When I finally got in sight of the finish line I jogged very, very slowly so that I wouldn't have to walk down the chute past all the spectators. And then I was done with my PW (personal worst) time, but I'd completed my eighth marathon.

I still don't know the long-term effects of the damage done to my calf muscles, but it's taken three days for them to not be in constant pain. I wore the compression sleeves all day yesterday and today and that's seemed to help. The stairs are still painful to descend, and I've been taking it easy. Monday evening was horrible after the drive back to KC. At this point I don't plan on running for at least three weeks.

The similarities to the marathon I ran in Columbia are startling. The humidity was high that day, too, and I went out too fast and suffered immensely in the last part. I felt like I was hydrated enough this time around, but the salty residue on my temples afterward indicated otherwise. I think if I'd kept at a 10-minute pace I would have finished marginally quicker, maybe at 4:20 or so, but I might not have been in so much pain. Lesson learned. I just wish I'd learned it after the Columbia race and applied it this time around.

Other than that the race itself was fine, although the course was hillier than I expected. The organization was good, and really it would have been enjoyable without all the calf cramps. My one complaint was the food at the end. Unless you liked spaghetti right after the race you were kind of out of luck. It didn't look appetizing at all to me. I can't say I'm glad I ran this race, but that's not the organizers' fault. I'm glad it's over and I'll have to determine if I ever run another full marathon or stick with the half from now on.