Happy New Year!
Today was my fifth consecutive day running a marathon at Across the Years. I already accomplished my primary goal, which was to run a quadzilla in Arizona. I’m doing the last two races because I’m already her, so why not?
It’s easy to say that
when you’re signing up for a race, but it’s more difficult in practice. This morning, I had that “what was I
thinking?” moment.
It took a while to get to
sleep last night. I woke up during the
night, and then it took a while to get back to sleep. When I got up this morning, I was
dragging. It was the second straight
night that I didn’t get enough sleep. I
was also feeling the cumulative fatigue from the last four days.
The last four days were
dry, but today there was rain in the forecast. When I left the hotel, I could see that it had
rained during the night. It wasn’t
raining when I started running, but I had to be prepared for passing showers
during the race.
There’s a heated tent
right next to the starting line, and I’ve been in the habit of sitting there
while I’m waiting to start the race.
Today, I couldn’t do that. Now
that the last person standing race is going on, this tent is reserved for those
runners. Instead, I waited in my car for
as long as possible before walking to the starting line.
I brought a plastic rain
poncho, but I left that in my car. I
started the race with a Tyvek jacket tied it around my waist. If we had a brief shower, my jacket would
always be handy. If we had a longer
period of rain, I would need to detour to my car to get the poncho.
I always keep a large cup
at the food tent. I fill it with
different beverages at different times.
The first time I stopped at the aid station, I filled it with Coke. I had mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I really needed the caffeine to
wake up. The downside was that the
caffeine would also make me pee, and frequent bathroom stops would make it more
difficult to establish a consistent pace.
It was probably psychological,
but as soon as I took my first drink of Coke, I felt energized. I normally start taking walking breaks in my
second lap. I did walk up the two short
ramps in the stadium, but where I usually take a longer walking break, I kept
running. I did that for my first three
laps.
I started the race with
gloves, but by my fourth lap, I was sufficiently warmed up that I could take
them off. I also starting walking on the
long section of sidewalk that comes just before we get to the parking lot, near
the end of each lap.
Drinking Coke for four
laps didn’t have any adverse effect. I
only needed one bathroom stop in the first half of the race.
Physically, I was feeling
OK, but mentally, I was still feeling the lack of sleep. I’ve run so many laps of this course that
every turn is programmed into my brain.
Still, there were times when I felt like I was in a trance.
There were areas where
runners and their crews could set up tents and tables. Until today, every available space was
taken. By late morning, I started to
notice that the tents and tables were starting to disappear.
The marathon is the only
distance where there was a new race each day.
For the fixed-time races and the longer fixed-distance races, you could
choose which day to start, but you were competing with people who started on
other days. With the exception of the
6-day race, most people seemed to choose a start day that had them finishing
this morning. That allowed them to enjoy
the New Year’s Eve festivities on the last night of their race. By the time I started my race this morning,
all of those runners had finished.
For the past few days, I’ve
been eating food every fifth lap. Today,
I waited until my seventh lap. By then,
I was almost one third done. My first
snack was an egg and veggie casserole. I
had to walk while I ate it, so that lap took longer.
We started out with
clouds, but now the sun came out. Almost
immediately, running got more tiring. I
still kept up the same proportion of running and walking, but my pace slowed
down.
Every day, I’ve been
slower than the day before. I thought
that trend might reverse today. At the
halfway point, I was actually a few seconds faster than yesterday. Yesterday, I slowed down substantially in the
second half. I expected to slow down
today too, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be as much.
I occasionally noticed
what place I was in. I was always 6th
overall and 4th among men. There are awards
for the top three men and the top three women.
In theory, I could win an award if I could pass one of the men who was
ahead of me. I wasn’t optimistic. I was slowing down. The only way I’d move into the top three is if
someone else slowed down more.
Early in the second half
of the race, it got cloudy again. Then I
felt some light drizzle as I was running around the stadium. It didn’t last long enough for the pavement
to get wet.
On my next lap, I started
to feel drizzle again. This time it
lasted longer. I considered putting on
my jacket, but I wanted to wait until I was on a walking break. I couldn’t easily do it while I was
running. Instead, I put on my gloves.
By the time I reached the
area where I took my long walking break, the rain had stopped. I didn’t need my jacket yet.
When I was almost two
thirds done with the race, I saw that they had grilled cheese and tomato soup
at the aid station. That hit the spot.
As I left the food tent
and turned the corner, I felt drizzle again.
I also felt a cold breeze. I needed
my jacket, but I was hoping to hold out until it was time for a walking break. This time the rain was too hard for
that. I was getting wet, so I had to
stop to untie my jacket and put it on.
There were timing
stations in two places. One was as the
start/finish line. The other was at the
farthest corner of the course. Each time
I passed one, I briefly unzipped my jacket to make sure the transponder could
detect the chip on my race bib. Each
time, I felt the front of my shirt getting wet.
The rain lasted for about
a lap and a half. After it stopped, I
was able to take off my jacket and tie it around my waist again.
As usual, the remaining
laps seemed longer than they really were.
I was tempted to do more walking, but I didn’t want to be that
slow. I just wanted to get done.
With three laps to go, I
saw something unexpected. I had moved up
in the standings. Now, I was fourth
overall and third among men. That
changed everything. Now I was willing to
push to hold onto third place.
I still took short
walking breaks on the ramps, but I stopped taking the longer walking break near
the end of each lap. I don’t think I
could’ve done that with four or five laps left.
With three laps left, I could.
I was in my second-to-last
lap when one of the 6-day runners asked me if I was having fun. I said, “Now I am!” For at least half of the race, I wasn’t
having fun, but now I was focused on a goal.
That’s a game-changer for me. I
wasn’t just trying to drag myself through this race because I signed up for it
and I was here.
I eventually finished in
5:31:35. I was slower than yesterday,
but I got an award for third place. More
important was that I actually enjoyed those last three laps.
After finishing, I waited
long enough to see the start of the next lap for the runners in the last person
standing race. When I started my race
this morning, there were still ten runners in that race. Now, there were only five. It’ll be interesting to see how many make it
through another night.
