2009 Columbus Marathon

As the sun slowly sets over the horizon, the lights begin to come on in downtown Columbus. The view out our window at the Doubletree over the Scioto River is amazing. We stayed at this hotel once before, for the Genesis concert last year. We had the view that time as well, which made it easy to decide to stay here again. This year we had made it through all the running around: The drive down from Medina, finding Sugardaddy's Bakery and purchasing some succulent brownies, stopping for lunch at Max and Erma's, getting to the expo in the convention center and dodging all the cheerleaders who were there, checking in at the hotel, stopping at Easton to visit the LEGO Store and Glad Tidings, dropping Bailey off with his great-grandparents in Johnstown, driving back into Columbus and picking up dinner at Plank's, and finally unloading the car and getting into the room. It was a busy Saturday! As nightfall descends, Mrs. P and I are ready to eat and get to sleep. We've got a busy day awaiting us.

The view from our window at around 5:00 AM.

The night passed both slowly and quickly. We fell asleep easily enough, only to be awoken by a crying baby from the next room at 1:30. Even with the TV back on, I had a hard time falling back to sleep. What is with our luck staying downtown and having noisy neighbors? I was up first, promptly at 4:30, and nothing was moving down on the street. I was hungry so breakfast consisted of not only the peanut butter and jelly on bread I had intended, but the rest of the pizza from the night before, as well as some delicious brownie. Add to that some Gatorade/Motortab mixture and a few sips of coffee, and I was ready, figuratively bouncing off the walls and literally jumping on the bed! The odd thing was, considering how hard I was planning to run, I felt absolutely NO PRESSURE. I felt GREAT! I knew I was going to have a FUN race. I was thrilled to be feeling that way.

Plank's has the best pizza we've had anywhere! Romeo's back home is a close second. I mean, where else can you get a pepperoni and bratwurst pizza?

Gear bag is stuffed and ready to be handed to the people at the truck. Just some warm clothes to put on afterward.

Cold morning temps meant sleeves. But I wasn't planning on wearing too much.

The walk from the hotel to the starting area didn't take long at all, and we were there within a couple minutes. We were going to try to meet up at a specific meeting place with the other Medina runners, but that kind of fell through. I found Rachel easily enough as I was handing over my gear bag. She looked as excited and relaxed as I felt. That was a good thing. We both had big plans for the day and didn't need nerves getting in the way.

We left to get in line a hair later than I would have liked. The corral was already shoulder to shoulder so we walked forward on the sidewalk and hopped the fence just behind the 3:10 pacer. We were up far. Nearly as far forward as at Rite Aid, but with much less room to move around. After only a few minutes it was nearly start time. The National Anthem sounded good but there was no military fly-over. With only a of couple minutes left, I decided to ditch the garbage bag I had been wearing. We were ready to get the show started and see if all our training would yield the results we desired.

Race start!

I could go through a mile by mile account of our race. But that's not the most exciting thing for anyone to read, nor is it entirely necessary. Our race was one thing: Consistent! We ran behind the 3:10 pacer and stayed there. We didn't deviate pace. We didn't slow down. We didn't speed up. We grabbed fluids at every aid station and I took a race split at every mile marker. And man, did those mile markers come by us quickly! We were cruising, and if felt great! The pacer knew his stuff and brought us through each mile slightly ahead of pace, building us a little cushion for the later miles.

Running through German Village nearing mile 11.

Rachel and I ran together for nearly the entire 26.2 miles. We both started feeling tired at about the same time, but my legs began getting pretty stiff not too long after that. Going around a turn in Upper Arlington, she had a bit of a gap on me, and I could not close it. I maintained the distance for a mile or so, but there was no way I was going to close that distance. When she pulled past the pacer at about mile 21 or 22, I decided the best place for me was to stay with the group. I was able to hang with the now much smaller pace group up until mile 23, when I began slowing a bit to prevent all-out cramping in my legs. They were right there on the verge and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

My final miles were solo miles, the first of the race. Oh, there were plenty of other runners around me still, but I was no longer part of a group, and my running partner was somewhere up ahead about to smash her previous PR. So I put my head down and pushed. It was hard and it hurt, but I've been in much more pain than that before. So much more pain that I realized I was feeling good by comparison. I needed to keep control of my thoughts. Everything could still be undone if I began getting panicky.

So I ran. And I would check my splits every so often to see where I was. I couldn't let the fear of being caught by the 3:15 group take control of me. I couldn't let my imagination show me getting passed by them and not being able to keep up with them. I had only a couple miles left. I could make it. As my mile splits began to prove to me, I wasn't slowing as much as I feared. I was running faster than at Rite Aid. I wasn't going to let myself be caught. And I wasn't going to waste all the hard work I had put in. Not in the last miles I wasn't!

Coming around Goodale Park, there were volunteers handing out chocolate buckeyes. I knew I wasn't going to be eating anything right then, but I saw a few children holding out their arms, each holding a buckeye and made my decision. I got my candy buckeye from a little boy, there with his family. I offered him a genuine "thank you" and made as nice a smile as I could. You can't say no to kids at these things. It turns out the chocolate confections were all wrapped in plastic. This little piece of candy was going to get me to that finish line. I tucked it into the palm of my hand and kept running.

The crowds heading into the Arena District really started to grow shortly after that. All the noise and cheering helped to propel me along. The pain began to fade to just a memory. The finish was almost here and this was the part I needed to enjoy. The part I needed to take in. To remember.

Check my watch.

3:15 group hadn't caught me.

I was going to go to Boston!

Up a hill and a right turn with crowds lining both sides of the street now, many people deep. So much noise that I couldn't hear anything else. There was the finish line. I could see the race clock now, showing 3:11. I really was going to make it.

But wait! I didn't start when the gun went off. We were too far back to start moving right away. My chip time has a discrepancy to the official time. I check my watch again. It's below 3:10. If I pick up my pace, I can beat 3:10:59 and qualify in the 18 - 34 year old bracket. I don't sprint, I can't do that now anyway. But I can stride. And I begin to pick it up. Oh, and don't forget to smile. I was going to f***ing Boston! That deserved a smile!

And then I was crossing the line. And I was done. I wasn't glad to be done. I wasn't happy it was over. I was ecstatic I had finally achieved the goal I had been chasing since early this year. That little buckeye was just burning a hole in my hand. And I was grateful.

Finish line photos:

Rachel was there at the finish line waiting for me. She ran a 3:08! Finished 4th in her AG! And 19th overall female! My official time was 3:10:44. I finished 45th of 416 in my AG and 274th of 4118 total finishers. And you know me. I've gotta' list my splits, so here they are:

7:37 / 7:01 / 7:14 / 7:18 / 7:06 / 7:05 / 7:18 / 7:17 / 7:01 / 7:05 / 7:07 / 7:16 / 7:07 / 7:24 / 7:24 / 7:18 / 7:11 / 7:16 / 7:11 / 7:03 / 6:59 (Are you kidding me?) / 7:00 / 7:08 / 7:36 / 7:53 / 8:09 / 1:35 (final .2).

That sub-seven minute mile for mile 21 elicited a much deserved F-bomb from me as I took that split. I managed to hang tough for two more miles before beginning to slow down. But where my pain-filled slow miles at Rite Aid were in the nine minute mile range, these final miles were great! I'm so glad I had that five minute cushion to work with.

Everyone else who made the trek to Columbus had a successful day as well. Mrs. P, Mrs. P's mom, and Janet all PR'd in their half marathons, and Ladd helped pace Jeannine to a PR sub-4 hour marathon! Everyone had a good day.

But no rest for the weary. As I type this, Marsha and Charles are preparing to run their own sub-4 hour marathons at Niagara Falls and Ladd is hoping to hit his BQ time of 3:20:59. Godspeed to you all!

As for me, on one week's rest I'm planning on running the Run With Scissors Trail Marathon tomorrow morning. Just for fun, of course. Road races are hard work but trail running is fun!

And now that I'm finally done, I'm going to go downstairs and eat that Buckeye I've been saving since last week at mile 25.5.