A Mile Is A Long Way

First things first. Congratulations to Ryan Hall for one of the greatest long distance runs in American history. He is the first American to go under 1 hour in the half marathon and did it in Houston. The experts on LetsRun are excited about this superb run.

It certainly is a long way when you are on the ground in downtown Houston, less than one mile to the finish line. I know, I was the one on the ground. I now know the despair of a runner contemplating a DNF with less than a mile to go in a marathon.

Why was I staring up in space? It has nothing to do with my Achilles tendon, which gave me no trouble all day (I'm sure it is pissed off, however, and will be complaining loudly tomorrow morning). Both hamstrings cramped up hard and I hit the turf. I was probably down about 3 to 5 minutes. Some good Samaritans helped me work both legs until I could get on all fours, stand up and start walking to the finish line. The EMS folks had arrived after I was moving forward and I wasn't stopping for them. I had visions of being put in the meat wagon.

That was not the end of the fun. I foolishly paused at 26 miles to discard a water bottle a Good Samaritan gave me. Mistake, my calves went nuts and I almost went down again. I was at least at a curb and another Good Samaritan worked out my knotted left calf. I essentially inched the rest of the way home, praying that I would not end up on YouTube.

I finished, I could not walk anymore for cramping and ended up in the medical area at GRB (but I got my medal first). Like last year, I starting cramping at mile 20. I have never cramped in training or racing except in last years and this years Houston Marathon. I clearly have an issue to solve, I'll save a fuller analysis of this for another blog. I drank more and ate more on this marathon than last year, but the doctor believes the hydration was not enough. I did sign up my weight for the hydration analysis and lost five pounds during the run. Doc says you should lose only 1 or 2. I doubt many runners lost that little today.

As for the rest of my run, I'll keep it short. The first half was enjoyable, comfortable and smooth. I did it on plan in 2:01:43. Unfortunately, I started to run out of gas in mile 14. Rather than push too hard I decided to Run/Walk to see if I could keep a steady pace the rest of the way. This worked reasonably well for a while. Around mile 20 the cramps started and I could not run much. I did do some stretching, to little avail.

I saw many runners I know on the course, both running and spectating. Most I got a chance to interact with. In reality that is my best memory of the day, seeing friends on the course. Thank you all for being there.

I finished in 4:55:11 in my second marathon. This is a PR as it beats last years similar pain by 8:20. I am so happy to have broken 5 hours.

I think my next marathon will be somewhere else. Somewhere where the humidity is closer to zero than 100.

In the meantime, I am dreaming about spring running.......5k to 10k distance sounds pretty damn good.