Labor Day weekend 2010 began the rebirth of a long dormant goal to run a marathon. It was a typical hot Alabama summer. Temperatures were in the mid-90s. I was on my boat with my family driving the kids around while they skied and tubed behind the boat. Despite the heat, I didn’t want to take off my shirt. My weight (at 5’10”) had ballooned to 208 pounds and I realized that I was embarrassed to display my girth in front of my own family. I was frankly disgusted.
But something clicked inside and I turned that disgust into determination to get the weight off by starting to run. Running was something I had done in High School, but had not seriously trained since 1988. Getting started was not easy. The following morning I went walking with my family at Lake Martin. I ran short spurts up hills and was easily winded.
I’m blessed to have a golf course in my back yard. When I got home from the lake, I decided to run on the golf course in the early morning. The front nine holes make up a two mile loop. I was determined to run the loop, but had to run a little then walk a little to make it around. While the experience was disappointing, it affirmed the need to get back in shape.
Short Races Provide Encouragement
I ran regularly in September and October - sometimes on the golf course and sometimes on the treadmill at the gym. The weight was beginning to come off and I was able to run further. The amount of weight loss seemed to correlate with my ability to run further and faster. Of course, that makes sense. Pick up a 20 pound weight and go run with it for 30 minutes. It will definitely slow you down. Twenty pounds of body weight does the same thing. Dropping that 20 pounds makes running much easier.
But running just to lose weight gets old fast. I needed a challenge. So I signed up for one of the smallest races around - the annual VCC trick-or-trot three mile run. For me this was the perfect first race, because it was run on the same golf course that two months ago I could not make it around without walking. I finished the race without walking and placed second in my age group amongst a very small field. But that little bit of success gave me the bug to run more races. I signed up for the local Jingle Bell Run 5K race. This race is a fun race with several thousand people, many of whom run in costumes. My time improved significantly and I placed 2nd in my age group earning a coveted Santa Claus trophy.
2011 Resolutions and Results
To keep the running motivation going, I resolved to run two half-marathons in 2011. I also joined the Birmingham Track Club and signed up to participate in the 1200 mile club, which challenges participants to run 1200 miles in a calendar year.
Now, if I was going to run 13.1 miles, the first race was going to be somewhere fun. So I recruited my wife and some friends and signed up for the San Diego Rock and Roll Half Marathon. It was a great trip and the race was a blast. I finished in 1:43 and was hooked. Later that month, I ran a 4.3 mile obstacle race called the Barbarian Challenge in Gadsden, Alabama with my friend Andy. I absolutely loved this race. Crawling in the mud under barbed wire, racing through the woods, down steep hills across streams and over obstacles was more fun that I should be allowed to have. I placed third in my age group and won a barbarian mace as a trophy. Doing crazy races like this makes life fun and a picture really says it all.
The idea of running a marathon starts to take shape.
By mid-2011 I was really enjoying running. I was reading Runners World magazine, Running Times and every book I can find or download on running. I logged my runs, bought many pair of running shoes and I talked about running all the time. Somewhere within all that reading and running, I decided I needed to tackle the challenge of a marathon.
I continued my training and searched for the right race at the right time of year, settling on the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in early December. Friends told me the course was relatively flat and the race was well organized. December was perfect for me, because I would prefer to run in 40 degrees than in warmer temperatures.
Training and Racing Continue
In order to properly prepare, I needed a training plan. After doing some research, I decided to follow the Run Less Run Faster program from the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training. The idea is to do three intense runs (speed, tempo, and long run) every week and cross train two to three days a week. If you don’t like running 5-6 days a week, I highly recommend this program. It lead me to the exact results the charts predicted I would achieve.
As I followed the program, I worked races into the plan in order to keep my motivation going. I planned a family weekend trip to the beach to run another half-marathon in Apalachicola Bay, Florida. It was a beautiful weekend with a breath taking sunrise run across the bay bridges. I placed second in my age group, eleventh overall, dropping my time to 1:38:58 - a 7:34 pace. I completed my resolution to run two half-marathons and my family had a wonderful time staying on St. George Island for the weekend.
On November 12th, I completed my third half-marathon running the inaugural Ruffner Mountain High Crusher trail race. This was a fun, but very tough, race that I wrote about in a previous blog.
Completing the Marathon
The Memphis St. Jude Marathon is a very well organized race. The Memphis Track Club really takes care of the runners in this race. They had more than enough aid stations, great pace groups and a lot of fan support.
I took the advice of more experienced runners and decided to run with a pace group. A pace group guides and paces runners to finish at a goal time. My goal was to finish under 3:40. I decided to run with the 3:35 pace group in order to give myself some cushion, because I had never run more than 20 miles in training and had heard all of the stories of runners breaking down after mile 21.
The pace group was a lot of fun. It allowed me to ignore my GPS watch and just run and talk with the people in our group. I got to meet new friends and really enjoy the race experience, rather than worry about whether I was staying on pace. Mile 5 was definitely a tear jerker as we ran through the St. Jude campus and were cheered on by children with cancer and their families. Seeing pictures of kids battling cancer, and those that didn’t win the battle, certainly put the race in perspective.
I rocked along with the pace group for twenty-two miles running 8:11 miles. My daughter Regan was tracking my splits on the St. Jude website. I really felt like I might beat my goal time by five minutes or more. But around mile 22 the pain set hard into my legs. All but one or two runners fell off of our pace group around this point. I wasn’t cramping, I just had serious pain in my left knee and we had run into a 13 mile-per-hour headwind.
I decided I had to give my knee a break. So for the next four miles, I walked through each water stop and then started running to the next one. This slowed my pace some, but allowed my knee to rest enough to keep going. I also kept a close eye on my watch knowing I wanted to come in under 3:40.
As I reached mile 26 with just 0.2 to go, I could see the entrance to Autozone baseball park. I knew if I pushed it, I would definitely be under 3:40. I picked up the pace, ran down the ball park tunnel onto the field, raised my arms in victory for the photographer (you have to have a good picture of your first marathon) and crossed the finish line. My watch told me I was under 3:40, but I wanted to know my official time. Within a minute, my daughter Regan texted me the official time of 3:39:37. I was so happy to have completed the race and met my goal time. Finishing a marathon really provides a sense of accomplishment. Completing the race also provides a respect for others who have run that distance - no matter what their time.
Advice for Anyone Who Wants to Run Their First Marathon
If you don’t have any serious health problems and you want to get back in shape, you might want to set a goal of running a marathon. If you do, these are my suggestions based on my past 15 months experience.
- Start slow and build a base over the course of a year;
- Don’t increase your total milage more than 10% per week to reduce the chance of injury;
- Sign up for races - start with shorter distances first. It will give you a feel for racing. Seeing the improvement in your times also provides positive feedback;
- Invest in more than one pair of good running shoes and change them out every 300 miles. I alternate four different pair of running shoes to change the stress on my feet. I keep a rough estimate of how many miles I have on a pair of shoes and move them into casual wear after 300 miles. Good fresh shoes protect your joints;
- Do at least one long run of 24 or 25 miles. My plan had me run 20 miles five times. That didn’t work for me. I had trouble after mile 22 (10% more than I had previously run). I no longer buy the theory that the race day experience will carry you another 6.2 miles. That’s more than a 25% increase in distance over a 20 mile training run. To have a more successful race day, your body needs to have experienced a run closer to the total race distance. I will definitely run a 25 mile training run before my next marathon;
- Run with a pace group. This was the best advice anyone gave me. It made the whole race experience better;
- Have a healthy eating plan;
- Stick with it and enjoy the experience.
By: Don McKenna
Don@hwnn.com
