This is sort of long so the short version is:

Finish time: 4:23:39
Total miles 26.2
Temp at start ~45 degrees
Temp at finish ~65 degrees
2 packs of sports beans eaten
1 pack of gummy bears eaten
Drank water at every stop
Drank sports drink at every other stop
Pee break at mile 21
Hating life miles: 22-25
Total training miles since Sept 1st - 535

Long version:

WOW! What a great experience. This was my first marathon. I had not idea what to expect. I read a lot online about different people’s marathon experiences, but actually DOING IT was great!

I signed up to run the Arizona Rock-N-Roll marathon in July of ’07. It was a goal I’d set for myself after reaching my weight loss goal of 70 lbs in May of ’07. I started my weight loss journey in sept of ’06. In October of ’06 I started walking\jogging on the Treadmill. By January I’d worked my way up to running 4-5 miles on the TM and that’s when I decided “I should be able to do something with all this running”. I started looking for 5Ks and ran 2 - 5Ks by the time I’d hit my weight loss goal. That’s when I started toying around with the idea of a ½ marathon. In July I was already up to ~10 mile runs. I decided that he ½ just was not a big enough goal since I was almost to that distance anyways. So on the 2nd of July I took the plunge and signed up. I knew once I’d paid the money there was no turning back.

I found one of the marathon training guides on www.coolrunning.com and that was my training regiment. It’s actually 4 months long, but because I’d already be doing about the same mileage, I started in what would have been the 2nd month of training in October of ’07. I pretty much followed the training as outlined in program. I did however make a few substitutions. 1st and probably the biggest, I only ran to 24 miles in the final weeks of the plan. It called for 26 but I wanted to save that for the actual race. 2nd Most of my daily runs were on a TM so I didn’t do the fartleks or the hills.

Anyways to the race. I’d read a bunch online about what a mess the shuttles were from the finish to the start. Since I live on the west side of town I decided it made more since for my wife to just drop me off at the start, then meet up with me at the finish. I followed the routes Elite racing had sent me on where to do the runner drop off for the start. We got there at about 6:45, got right in and right out ( or so my wife told me). There was very little traffic. I did have to walk about 1/3-1/2 mile to where everything was. Once I got there, there where huge signs directing you to the various points in the “starters village”. I made my way to the UPS gear check and checked my bag in. This one another one of the complaints I’d read about. The trucks were done by last name not number. Anyways I found my name gave the guy my bag and he wrote the truck number on my bib. Once I had my gear checked, I walked around the area. I hadn’t been down there in about 10 years. At about 6:55 I made my way to the porta-potty lines near the marathon corrals. The wait was only about 5 min. After that I decided to walk up to the starting line to see if I could see anyone famous. (Not that I would have recognized them). I didn’t see anyone famous or anyone with a bunch of people around them asking for autographs, so I make my way back to my corral. When I first registered I felt pretty confident that I could finish the marathon in 5 hours, so I was assigned corral number 9. Going into race day that I was figuring I could do a 4:30 easy, and maybe better (4:15?). So I make my way up the very front of corral number 9 thinking that at least I’d be right behind the 4:30 folks. I had a nice chat with an older guy who had the same GPS as me. In fact my GPS was picking up his HR monitor. I told him that my GPS was a gift to my wife for mother’s day… I really enjoy it.  Eventually the 9 corral starts filling up and it’s getting what I consider to be crowded… little did I know I hadn’t seen anything yet. Apparently the 8 corral is quite popular, so much so they had to take down the barrier between 8 and 9 and the folks in 8 started crowding in and pushing us back. I didn’t want to get pushed back to far (it was just principle **** it, I got there in plenty of time to get a “good” spot, they should have to), but it got MIGHTY tight in there. I’m talking shoulder to shoulder. As it got closer to 7:40 everyone was getting restless. We could hear the MC but we (or at least I) didn’t hear the gun, there was a quick rush then we stopped again. The folks around me said that the quick start like that was probably just everyone jamming together from the other corrals. It took about 4 min to get to the starting line. From the time the gun started until I got to the starting line there were clothes and trash bags flying off to the side, I did run over more then one trash bag on the way to the start. There were a bunch of folks wearing trash bags to keep warm I guess.

As we pass the starting line everyone is still pretty tight, we went probably ½ a mile past the start before we got any kind of running room. While I was standing in my corral I noticed the 4:30 guy was either in my corral or in the very back of the corral in front of me. I decided to try and stay up with those guys and I’d be good. We got passed the ½ mark or so I could see the 4:30 pace group about 1/8 of a mile in front of me. After the start and for the next 3 or 4 miles there were jackets, hats, gloves and various other clothes being tossed to the side of the road. I shed my sweat shirt first at about the 3 mile mark, I had planned on ditching it so off it went. At about the 4 mile mark my hat found a nice place on the side walk. I hated to get rid of it but I also didn’t want to carry it for the next 22 miles. My gloves made it to about the 6 mile mark before they to were cast aside. What I thought was odd was even around mile 18 or so I was still seeing gloves and hats. I thought to myself, **** those folks must not have wanted to give those up, then I realized it was probably the elite folks stuff and that’s when they finally got warmed up.

Somewhere around the 3-4 mile mark I saw some guy holding a sign that said “I thought Oboma was running…” I got a kick out of that. In fact I was having ALL kinds of fun running in this HUGE group of people. At some point I pass the 4:30 group and never look back. At the 10K mark my time was 58:35, about a 9:26. I knew I was running sub-10 min (I was going for 10 min mile for the whole course) but I felt good and was having a really good time. I continued to pass people and I started to wonder where the 4:15 group was. I knew I’d left the 4:30 group some time back. Not sure where it was probably around mile 8-9 I start to see the 4:15 group. I eventually catch and pass those guys. Still feeling really good, I press on. I’m thinking that wow I’m really doing well. I hit the 13.1 mark at 2:03, I think to myself… that will make my buddy jealous… his first half was something like 2:08, here I am in my first marathon… first FULL marathon and I hit 2:03. I’m still thinking this is going well. At about mile 15-16 is when the party starts to falter. By mile 19 the 4:15 group catches me and I stay with them until the 20m mark. I hit 20 miles in 3:12, still running sub 10 min, but have slowed to 9:36. Mile 20 was the last time I saw the 4:15 group. It’s at this point I finally decide that I’m really going to need to us the porta-potty and at mile 21 I finally decide I don’t want to have to hold it for another 5 miles. Which is just as good anyways since I’m really starting to get tired.

Between miles 21 and 23, I’ve decided that all I need to do is stay ahead of the 4:30 group which I figured was running me down. By mile 24 I didn’t care if they did. The start of mile 24 is a bridge over the salt river. Its about as close to a hill as you will find on this course and it is in a very bad spot. I didn’t train for hills, in fact I planned routes around what few hills we have in my area. This hill was a killer at a time when you don’t need anything else to crush your spirit. Miles 22-24 run along side the Indian reservation. Not sure if it was the Res, or just the road layout, but there were no bands or spirit squads along this route, the road runs south and it’s a straight shot so you can see all the folks in front of you. The temps are probably ~65 and the sun seems like its beating down on you. (remember I live in the desert so, I should be used to it right?) On the down side of the hill you can see the turn onto University. That is about the mile 25 mark, there are a bunch of folks lining the road cheering everyone on. I didn’t hear any of it. All I could think of was finishing this last 1.2 miles. Oddly I do remember some guy passing me that had a 50 state marathon shirt on. I don’t know how those guys do it, If I do 3 a year, I’d only get in 30 before I turn 50…. I also remember the pirates at the last water station on the route. Finally we get to Rural road and the crowds are getting pretty heavy… I just keep repeating my mantra.. I’m fast… I’m strong…I can do it… Left turn onto 6th street with only the .2 left to go.. I start scanning the crowd for my wife.. there was all kinds of noise but I don’t hear any thing, finally a right turn and I can see the finish line, I quit looking for my wife and concentrate on getting pasted the finish. As I turn the corner I thought the clock said 4:12 but as I got closer I could see that it was 4:20 something. I hold my hands up and smile as I cross the line.. hopefully the finish photo wont show how much pain I was in… FINALLY finished. Chip time was 4:23:39.. wasn’t the 4:15 I thought I could do ½ way thru, but it was better then the 4:30, and right a were I thought I’d come in.

As we continue to walk down the shoot, I see them handing out stuff... at first I wonder what it is, then it hits me… oh yeah… my metal! The volunteers are handing them to you, or putting them on you which ever you prefer. I take my metal, continue down the shoot and grab a water… **** my legs hurt and I’m tired… I keep walking and I hear someone say something about the finisher’s photos… I had decided before the race I’d check to see if the lines were long… they were only about 6 people deep. They had ~8-10 photographers there so the lines went pretty quick. I check to see how every one else is “posing” and I opt for the holding the metal up.

I keep waiting for someone to hand me one of the cool mylar ‘blankets” but I didn’t see any one with them.. I figure it must be too late and they’ve decided that no one wants them. I grab an accelerade (stuffs not as bad as everyone says) a green banana and the best part… a popsicle! As I’m getting ready to leave the secure area, I finally spot the mylar blankets. They’ve got them stuffed in one of the barriers… it was a help yourself thing. I grab my blanket and head for the UPS gear check. I’d read about what a PITA the gear check was because of them using names not bib numbers. There was no one in line at my truck when I got there. Maybe they had more trucks this year then last, but it was not a hassle at all. Once I get my bag I dig out my cell and call the wife. She said she was on the way to our meeting point. I told her to stop at the entrance since it was closer then me having to go all the way in. I hobble over to the gate and she sees me as I walk up. She said she was on the fence about 30’ from the finish line. She was calling my name, but I was too focused to hear anything. We take a quick look around and decide that there isn’t anything either of us want to do in the “runners village” and decide to head to the car. I told the wife where I thought the best parking might be (again using the maps provided by the marathon folks) and she said she found the spot with no problems…. Well one small problem. The closest spectator parking was about a mile away which is where she was… Lucky for me because the not so close parking was 2 miles away.

I understand why the call these marathons a party. It was! Like I said for the first 15 miles or so I had a great time. The water stations were spaced right (well at the end they seemed far, but that was because I was getting tired I think) the bands that played were OK, but the best part was the “cheer squads”. Most of them were younger kids and they were very energetic… even by the time I’d gotten there.  I tried to high five all the little kids I saw holding their hands out. It was a great time. One thing I did notice… those Team in Training folks had a TON of fan support out there. At one point I was running past people and they were just looking at me. After about a ½ mile of that I thought to myself… I need to find one of those TNT folks just so I can ride their cheering coat tails. 

I will definitely do this marathon again. Having completed the goal of just finishing a marathon, I think my next goal will be break the 4 hour mark.

rtmckee