Mr. Pythagoras and the Marathon

Please enjoy this little jaunt of mine down memory lane. It's something I wrote back in January in another forum, but haven't posted here yet. It is essentially my complete history with 26.2. To date, that is.

Why would you want to do that? Are you nuts? You're going to do WHAT? All questions I fielded when I started telling people I was planning on running a marathon. My answers? I like to run. No, I'm not nuts, just slightly masochistic. You heard me right, I'm going to try running the full Revco Marathon. Oh, I should mention that this was back in 1990, I was 15 years old, and a sophomore in high school. Yeah, I had plans to go long even back then. But the marathon was nothing compared to my dream goal: competing in an Ironman. Next to that, the marathon should be easy. Well I was to find an answer to that soon enough.

I began my running career on the track in jr. high. It was the first year track was being offered, and I was somewhat interested in seeing what it was all about. I didn't fancy going to the orientation meeting by myself so I talked some friends into going with me. The meeting was very informative and I became seriously interested. But again, I didn't want to join by myself. The other guys weren't all that thrilled by the idea of competitive running, so I joined without knowing anyone. When asked what distances I was interested in doing, I asked what the shortest distances were. Well, I eventually ended up running the 100 meters and the 800 meters. An interesting combination. That season went well, as I didn't have anything to compare it to. It was a lot of hard work, but totally worth it.

That was my first and last experience as being a part of a running team. I went out for track in high school, but my legs just couldn't take running everyday, so I dropped out.
I still wanted to run, just not what was offered at school. So I turned to road races. 5Ks led to 5 miles and then to 10Ks. Attempting a marathon only made sense. So I entered the 1990 Revco Cleveland Marathon.

I should have known I was going to have a bad day when, while lining up in the queue, an older man leaned over to me and asked "You know this is the Marathon, right. The 10K starts later." I assured him this was the event I planned on doing. After the gun went off, I took my time, a very slow, comfortable pace. I didn't have a clue what to expect. My longest training run was probably not much more than 6 miles. I just figured that if I kept to a nice easy pace, I would eventually finish. I was young, invincible, and didn't know any better at the time. I was about to find out about something called "the wall".

The first half of the race actually went pretty well. The course was a straight out and back that led to Bay Village from downtown Cleveland. I was very tired by the time I hit the turn-around, and started eating and drinking whatever was being offered. Having never eaten anything during training, my body started rebelling on me. My stomach developed that heavy pressure you get when you know something isn't quite right. I remember my legs being very tired, not necessarily sore, just tired. I walked from mile 13 to just after mile 16, when the sag wagon pulled up beside me and asked if I wanted a ride back to the finish. Without hesitation, I climbed aboard and experienced my first DNF. We were dropped off at the CSU campus. My mom had driven us down, so I needed to find her. But first I was going to lose everything I had been consuming. Frantically, I found a somewhat secluded spot in which to blow my chunks. I was embarrassed enough about quitting the race, I didn't need anyone seeing me get sick too.

My next attempt at a marathon was two years later. I don't remember exactly how I decided to try it again, but it may have had something to do with the race starting and finishing a matter of blocks from the college I was just starting at. The race was the 1992 Columbus Marathon. It was an early October date, on Columbus Day weekend, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovering the new world. I ran in a 10 miler that September and also did longer training runs than I had before the Revco. I had just turned 18, was away from home for the first time, living in a strange fine-art environment, and felt it was something I just needed to do.

Back then the course went north up High St., through the Ohio State campus, and wound it's way into Upper Arlington, before coming back down through campus again and eventually downtown. Then it would head east into Bexley, turn around, wind through German Village, and finish at the State Capitol building. Basically the opposite of the way the course is laid out now.
I went out hard at the beginning. Passing people on the sidewalks and everything. When I did Revco, I started slow and I didn't want to do that again. Eventually I fell into a decent pace, staying with a pack of runners going my speed. I was tired as we made our way through Upper Arlington. But because it's a residential neighborhood, there were so many spectators lining the streets and cheering, I couldn't help but get a nice kick of adrenaline and feel really good making my way through there. In fact, the energy carried me all the way back down through campus and into downtown before I started really dragging. I think I made it into Bexley before I had to start walking. I was tired and my legs were starting to cramp on me. Quads and calves mostly. I don't remember much of what happened between Bexley and German Village except that I was in a lot of pain. More pain than I could ever remember experiencing before. But I kept pushing. I didn't want to have another failed attempt at a marathon. What I lacked in physical preparedness, I more than made up for in being mentally focused and just plain stubborn. The feelings that hit me as I made the final turn onto High St. were overwhelming, because I knew the finish was a little over a mile straight ahead of me and that I was going to finish. I was in so much pain, but I knew I was going to finish.

I finished my first marathon in 4 hours 49 minutes. I was sore for weeks afterward and couldn't run again for a couple months. That effectively ended my 1992 season. Nothing like going out on a high note though. The following spring, I finished the Revco Cleveland Marathon for the first time. I cut nearly 25 minutes from my time too, finishing in 4 hours and 25 minutes. In the fall of 1993, I finished another Columbus Marathon, again shaving off a little more time, finishing in 4 hours 23 minutes. I pulled out of the 1994 Columbus Marathon just after half way due to heat concerns. All my training was done in cool temps and race day ended up being very warm.
That was all she wrote for me until last year when I finished both the Akron Marathon and the Columbus Marathon. Three weeks apart doesn't allow for full recovery and I won't be doing that again. My PR in Akron of 4 hours and 15 minutes leads me to think I can go sub 4 hours this year in Columbus. We shall see.

I am glad to be going long again. The more I do, the more I'm getting over the regret of the 10 year break from running. Last year I reached a point where on any given weekend I could go out and do a half marathon, no problem. I would like to reach a point where I can do multiple full marathons per year, and do them faster. Qualifying for Boston isn't one of my goals, but it sure would be nice to do it once.