JW Run Blog 3: The Do-Over Marathon

The Do-Over Marathon

Chicago Marathon 2007

Cape Cod Marathon 2007

After the 2006 Boston Marathon, I knew my body needed a break. I lowered my mileage and ran without a plan. I had pushed myself hard for a year from April 2005. Enough for a while. In the fall of 2006, two noteworthy running events occurred. One was the first meeting of the Greater Norwood Running Club on October 1. I wasn’t there (business trip), but I found the notes from that original meeting on my computer many years later. The backstory on GNRC is that Mike grew unhappy with HFC, the club he and I belonged to at the time. HFC (which stands for Hurtin’ For Certain) is a group of former collegiate runners that ran from the Xaverian Brothers High School track. Mike and I would join them there. Our friend Mel C. also joined. At some point, something about HFC riled Mike. As I recall it related to Mel being passed over for an award. That disaffection turned into him starting a new club. I just followed Mike from one club to the next. He had gotten me into running and showed me the ropes, so where he led, I followed. 

In fall 2006, club members decided to do the Clarence de Maar Marathon in NH. I drove them up there. It’s a point-to-point race, so I decided to run with Anne D. for the last part of the race. I ran the course backwards until I saw her, then we did the rest of it together. I sensed that she needed something to distract her from the pain, so I told her stories about this and that. It seemed like the thing to do, and it turned out my instincts were correct. She thanked me afterwards. While I was driving home, Mike passed out in the passenger’s seat. He used to do that after marathons. We pulled over and got him something to drink. 

My running log for 2006 was a litany of injuries--back, hip, foot. I was learning that my frame does not stand up to repeated punishment. I started seeing a chiropractor once and a while. Then an orthopedist. Finally some yoga. Discovering that I really needed to stretch after running was helpful. The lateral stretches were key, as my hips were very tight. All that forward movement had side effects, as it turns out. 

For fall 2007, the club had decided that a destination marathon was in order. We picked Chicago. I was excited to get back to my hometown. The marathon course went right through the neighborhood where Sharon and I met. The picture below shows us after the race, looking pretty chipper considering what kind of day we had. 

The weather forecast for Chicago on race day was HOT. The night before the race we were at Italian Village loading up with pasta and strategizing. The half-way point of the marathon provided a chance to bail on the rest of the race and walk a few blocks to the finish line. We talked about that, but no one would own up to planning for such an act. Mike and I stayed at the Congress Hotel, which was kind of a dump, but it was right on the starting line. On race morning the temp was 88, and it was humid. I stripped down to just shorts, and I was dumping water on my head from almost the get-go. The photo shows us pre-race, smiles hiding the dread.

I ran until about mile 16. After that, it turned into a little run, a little walk until about mile 20, when it became all walk. At mile 22, there were runners strewn along the side of the road, helicopters overhead. It was ugly. Then they came on the bullhorns: “The race is cancelled. Everyone must walk.” They turned off all of the clocks. Some serious shit must have happened. I kept walking. At about mile 24, I walked by an aid station, then retched. So back to the aid station I went. It was just a small tent with a few cots. All of them were full. I sipped some water, tried to rehydrate. Then the doctor who was working there passed out. I got up and left. At the end of the race I tried to bypass the finish line, as I didn’t want any pictures of me crossing that one. But all means of exit were blocked off, so I had to cross. This was 5:29 after I had started. Afterwards, I managed to find everyone in a hotel lobby. Some of the women had actually done well in the heat. But most of us were slowed considerably. We were all flabbergasted that they had cancelled the race DURING the race. 

I was actually in good shape to run Chicago. My legs were not cooked from the race--after all, I didn’t run most of it. On our way back home, the two Melissas and I hatched a scheme: a “do-over marathon.” 

The weekend after Chicago, Mel C. and Mel B. and I went to Cape Cod and ran almost 20 miles. Here was our plan: if we didn’t feel like total shit afterwards, we were going to sign up for the Cape Cod Marathon at the end of October. We ran, we felt fine, we signed up. Two weeks later, we ran the race. I did 3:50. The weather that day was a pleasant 58 degrees with sun and a mild wind. What I remember about Cape Cod was that even though my legs started hurting at the end of the race, I just kept pushing. So even though my pace was in the 10’s for the last 3 miles, I wasn’t walking or shuffling. I also fueled well--I carried just enough water to help me down 5 GU gel packs, and I also brought some salt tabs that I picked up at the expo in Chicago. My fifth marathon, and there were signs that I was learning how to run the race.