Today was my sixth and
final marathon at Across the Years. I
just needed to run 19 more laps of the 1.4108-mile loop around Peoria Sports
Complex.
Last night, I went to bed
right after dinner. I slept well for
most of the night. I really needed that.
I woke up with the usual
stiff muscles and tight Achilles tendons.
I also had some soreness on the right side of my lower back. That was new.
After breakfast, I
checked the live results to see how the 6-day runners were doing. Several of them had already logged 300 miles,
and they still had more than 24 hours to go.
Justin Montague was crushing the men’s race. His wife, Melissa, had been leading the
women’s race for four days, but now Yolanda Holder was in the lead.
I also checked the
results for the last person standing race.
There were two runners still going after 130 laps (183.4 miles).
As usual, I was moving
better by the time I arrived at the race venue.
Despite sleeping better, I was lacking in energy, both physically and
emotionally. I was ready to be done.
I ran the entire first
lap. I think it was my fastest lap since
Sunday. Starting with my second lap, I
walked two very short uphill sections that come early in the loop. For three more laps, I still ran everywhere
else.
I was toying with the
idea of walking a significant portion of today’s race. I wanted to run as much as possible in the
first half, so I could switch to walking later, without being on the course all
day. I used to be able to walk a
marathon in less than six hours, but that takes a lot of training. Lately, I just haven’t trained enough to walk
at a fast pace for more than a few miles.
In my fifth lap, I
finally added a longer walking break. I
walked the same section of sidewalk that I’ve been walking other days. This is a picture I took a few days ago. I call this the “Avenue of Flags.”
When I finished a lap, I
always looked to see what place I was in.
For the first four laps, I was the second place male. After my fifth lap, I dropped to third place.
Now I had a decision to
make. There are awards to the top
three. I needed to decided if I was
going to keep up my pace, in an effort to stay in third place, or whether to
switch to walking at some point.
During my sixth lap, I
stopped at the aid station to have some oatmeal. I had to wait long enough for a volunteer to
scoop oatmeal into a cup. Then I stirred
in some milk and brown sugar. I took the
cup with me and walked while I ate my oatmeal.
I knew where there was a trash can next to some port-o-potties. I finished my oatmeal just before I got
there. Then I ran the rest of the lap.
In lap seven, I went back
to walking the two short ramps and the “Avenue of Flags.” I was going to do that in my eighth lap, but
I forgot to switch to walking at the “Avenue of Flags.” I ended up running the rest of that lap.
At this point, I had 11
laps to go. Usually at this point, I’d
by thinking, “I still need to keep up this pace for 11 laps.” Instead, I was still entertaining thoughts
that I might switch to walking at some point.
That allowed me to focus on one lap at a time. My mindset was I’d run most of this lap, but
I could always switch to walking later.
The halfway point came in
the middle of my tenth lap. At this
point, I was a little bit faster than yesterday. I still didn’t know if I would be walking
most of the second half.
There were still two
runners in the last person standing race.
Their names were Mike and Ben. They
needed to start a lap every 20 minutes.
As I was finishing one of my laps, there was less than a minute before
they were due to start their next lap. I
was about to cross the finish line when I heard the nearby crowd erupt in
cheers. They could see Ben coming. Mike had already been resting for the last few
minutes. It’s not a good sign when a
runner is cutting it that close.
Early in my next lap, as
I was going around a turn, I looked back and saw Mike coming. I didn’t see Ben. I slowed down so Mike would catch up to
me. I said, “I see you, but I don’t see
the other guy. Is he still running?” Mike said, “He’s back there.”
Mike clearly wanted to
say something more, but he struggled to say it.
Then he said, “I’m sorry. I’m too
tired to explain.” Mike and Ben had both
been running without sleep for almost 48 hours.
For the rest of that lap,
I was never far from Mike. Late in the
lap, as we ran through the parking lot, Mike saw one of his friends and said, “Just
shoot me.”
Ben finished that lap,
but with only a few seconds to spare.
Mike was at the end of his rope, but it was obvious he would win. Mike went on to win the race with 145 laps, which
is more than 200 miles.
The race between Melissa
and Yolanda was intriguing. Melissa is a
runner and Yolanda is a pure power walker.
I met Melissa on Sunday, and every day I was impressed with her fast pace. I’ve known Yolanda for years.
Melissa’s strength is
that she could go faster, as long as she was mostly running. Yolanda never runs, but she also never slows
down. She’s like the Energizer Bunny.
At different times during
the race, I would either walk with Yolanda or run or walk with Melissa. I was encouraging both of them.
Early in the day, Yolanda
had a big lead, but I was passing her more often than I was passing
Melissa. Melissa was gradually catching
up. I suspect that the race will come
down to who can get by with less sleep during the final night. They finish at 9 AM tomorrow morning.
I stopped for food one
more time. When I saw that the food tent
had hot dogs, I stopped to get one. I
ate about half of it while I was there and then walked while I finished it.
When I had five laps to
go, I caught up to Melissa. She asked me
how I was doing. I mentioned that I wanted
to walk the rest of the way, but I was in third place and wanted to hang on to
that. She asked me how much my cushion
way. I had no idea.
Melissa was holding her
phone, so the looked up the live results and told me I was ahead of the fourth
place male by almost three miles. Basically,
I was two laps ahead with only five laps to go.
I had a safe lead as long as I was mostly running.
Melissa’s pace was slower
than mine, but I could afford to slow down.
I ran with her for an entire lap, before continuing on my own.
Now I just had four laps
to go. I ran the next lap at my own
pace. With three laps to go, I bumped
into Annabel at the food tent. Like me,
she was doing marathons every day. She
also asked me how I was doing. I told
her I had just three laps to go. She
said she did too.
I ran the rest of that
lap with Annabel, but I had to work hard to keep up with her. Her current pace was faster than I had been
running. When we finished that lap,
Annabel saw that she was wrong about her lap count. I now had two laps to go, but she only had
one left.
I ran with Annabel for
one more lap, even though it was tiring.
When she was done with her race, I continued on my own. I now just had one lap to go.
When you’re running the
same loop for multiple laps, the last lap always feels different. That’s even more true when you’ve been
running the same loop for several days.
In six days, I ran this loop 114 times, but this was the last time.
Around every turn and
with every change of surface, I knew I was seeing this part of the course for
that last time. That made my last lap
feel like a victory lap.
All week, I’ve been
leaving my cup at the aid station. On my
last lap, I had to remember to take it with me.
It’s a souvenir cup from another race, so I didn’t want to leave it
behind. I also didn’t want to do an
extra half mile of walking after the race to go back to the aid station to
retrieve it. I drank the last of my
beverage and carried my cup with me.
With about a mile to go,
I caught up to Joel, who was doing the 6-day race. I met Joel Sunday morning at breakfast. I saw him on the course every day, and we
always asked each other how we were doing.
I walked the last mile of the race with Joel. At this point, I knew I had a safe lead.
I didn’t run again until
I was within sight of the finish line. I
finished in 5:41:16. That’s about 10
minutes slower than yesterday, but mostly because I walked the last mile. It was still good enough for another third
place finish.
All through the race, I
never noticed the soreness in my back. I
didn’t notice it again until I got back to the hotel. After a long soak in the tub, it felt better.
Much later in the day, I discovered that the second place runner only beat me by about six and a half minutes. Had I run my last lap instead of walking with Joel, there's a good chance I would've finished in second place. I have no regrets.
I’m done with my races, but I still have one more challenge. I fly home tomorrow, and I have to figure out how to fit everything in my suitcase. In the last six days, I’ve accumulated six medals, five trophies, a belt buckle, a T-shirt, and a glass mug. It helps that I’m leaving two pairs of shoes behind.
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