Nor Cal Marathon 9-18-2011

This is the post I wrote Sunday night after returning home mere hours after the Nor Cal Marathon:
We finished.
It was hard.
I’m done running forever.

I sat and stared at those 3 lines for a very long time. Am I really done forever? Isn’t that one of my biggest fears that I will no longer be able to run? How many posts have I written about how crazy I get when I can’t run? Am I really ready to quit? My mouse hovered over the publish button for more than a minute. I decided not to post it, to sleep on it.

Those are big words to say and even bigger words to eat once you change your mind. Let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t post it. It was hard, harder than any other marathon I’ve run including the wind and rain at Surf City ’08 and the torn knee at mile 23 of CIM ’08. I know I’m not done forever but Sunday was a really tough day. I did not expect the marathon to be as challenging as it was and I was disappointed. Not disappointed about our time but disappointed that we had prepared so diligently and the course was not advertised as an off road marathon. We were more than prepared for a road race but trail racing is whole different beast all together. With that said the race was not all bad and we even had some laughs mixed in with the suffering.

We arrived and parked with about 20 minutes to spare. Heather wanted to hit the porta-potty city before the start. We walked through the nearly empty start area wondering where the heck everyone was and then we saw the masses standing in line for the little blue potty houses. We hopped in line and waited and waited some more. Finally we were at the front of the line and we could hear the announcer give the 2 minute warning. At this point I decided to skip using the facilities which turned out to be a mistake, more about that later. As the air horn blew signaling the start of the race H was in her little blue hut but since the race was chip timed it didn’t matter. As we crossed the start line it was clear of nearly every other runner and walker which was fine by me. I’m not a huge fan of the crowded start corral and the stutter step through the first quarter mile. Heather had a plan in place as to what pace she wanted run for different segments of the race. Her plan was excellent and would leave us with enough energy to finish the race feeling strong.

We ran a nice slow pace for the first two miles and then picked up the pace for approximately the next 7 miles. We wound around a pretty little park and enjoyed the coolness coming from the grass and trees. Around the 6 mile marker we left the paved road for the first section of loose gravel. The path ran parallel to the airport and the planes taking-off and landing were a nice distraction. At mile 9 the half marathon participants turned around. It was at this point that Heather and I realized exactly how small the marathon was. We ran up a small incline to another loose gravel road and found that we were the only 2 runners around. Up in the distance we could see another 2 or 3 runners. We trudged along staying at our target pace along the gravel levee road until the 14 mile marker. I was so relieved to find a porta-potty at this aid station. Since I had opted not to use the facilities at the start the urge to go was growing with each passing mile. I had stopped somewhere around 4 miles but grew impatient with the line and decided not to wait. I stopped again around mile 7 or 8 only to find that the door was zip tied shut. That was really cruel! So finally at 14 I found an unlocked, no wait porta-potty. This was a very happy moment for me! I told Heather to go on and I would catch up to her. With that business out of the way I took advantage of the nice smooth paved road to pick up my pace and meet back up with Heather. We ran along a small paved path into a park to the 16 mile marker that was the turn-around for the full marathon. It was getting hot and I was feeling spent after all the miles on the gravel and so was Heather. I decided since we were not running with our eyes on the clock that we should take the turn-around as an opportunity to take a photo.

 Here we are smiling and looking relaxed, not looking as tired and haggard as we felt.

As we made our way back up the paved trail out of the park I was beginning to dread returning to that levee road. At mile 17 we entered the gravel again. We stopped and thanked the volunteers and had a sip of Gatorade. After a mile or so on the gravel my quads and feet were screaming at me. They were indignant. How could I possibly ask them to put up with these less than favorable conditions for any longer? We spent a great deal of the next 8 miles walking. The day had turned out to be very warm. The sun was baking the earth and the rocks. The heat radiated upward like a never-ending wall. Areas of shade were very few and far between. At each aid station we refilled the water bottles we were carrying and poured water on our necks. We asked how long until we would be off the gravel. No one knew. It was treacherous and defeating. Heather had hit her wall and snapped back out of just in time for me to hit mine. I wanted to run. Heather wanted to run. We just couldn’t, it was too painful. Heather’s knees were angry and my feet were refusing to take anymore punishment. We would run in little bursts then walk. Over and over we repeated this pattern. It was grueling. Finally somewhere between miles 24 and 25 we returned to pavement. It was a joyous moment. We were still too hot and fatigued to run much but at least we were off that awful gravel.

I began to feel revitalized around mile 25, the end was so close! As we rounded the last corner and could see the finish line I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. All the months of hard work had paid off. The two surgeries and two recoveries were now in the distance. I had made a promise to BC to get Heather to the finish line in one piece and I did (more or less!). This was not my fastest marathon nor did I expect it to be. I just wanted to finish and I did!