Grandmas Marathon

The race!!!
Goal time: 3:56; a 9:00/mile pace
Plan: Start off easy, stay easy, keep running, do what it takes to finish. Simple.
Pre race athletes drop off the warm up clothes and water bottles in their marathon bag into huge garbage bins at the start line which are then driven to the finish. After dropping my bag into one of the many garbage bins and walking toward the start line I'd realized I had left my timing chip in the bag. I ran back but had no idea which bin I'd used. A volunteer was carting a bin off to the truck and so I called at him to stop, I frantically dug through the bin and found my bag and chip. Finally something had worked in my favor! Maybe I'm not so unlucky after all!

The gun went off as me and 8000 other participants surged towards the starting line, and then we were off. The first 5 miles we are blur, I was dodging in and out of much slower runners and just having fun. I couldn't help myself, I was having a blast and just laughing out loud. Emotional reactions are sometimes weird... With so many participants to distract me I don't even think I lost an ounce of energy those first 5 miles.

Turns out after starting way at the back of the pack, I'd already passed 5,000 runners!!! No wonder I had been so distracted...

But the racers were thinning out and now it was time to check where I was. I hit the 10K/6.2 mile point at 45 minutes, whoa! I figured I'd start out at about 8 minute pace and see where things took me, telling my parents at about what time they should be where in the race to cheer me on. But I was flying at a 7:20 pace. I felt good so I just kept plugging!

The speed stayed strong and before long I was at 13.1, halfway with a time of 1:35. I couldn't believe my pace! I was hoping to hit this point at about 1:48, I was well ahead of that. I kept on going but the infamous 20 mile Wall was creeping into my consciousness. For those of you who don't know the Wall is something many newcomers to marathon hit at about mile 20 in their marathon, it is a complete physical 180. You are feeling fine then suddenly you feel like you can't go another step. They say you can't possibly describe it, but anyone who has ever hit it knows just what it feels like.

At mile 20 my time was 2:28, I had been averaging 7:24 per mile... and no wall, mile 21 passed, mile 22 passed and then I hit the legendary "Lemon Drop Hill" of Grandmas marathon. It is a short but steep hill that inconveniently sits at 22 miles into the marathon. Any cross country runner knows that after a steep hill you have take a little time to "get your legs back under you" before you return to pace. After 22 miles, this does not happen! I had hit the Wall!

Those last 4 miles felt like the second half of the race... My body was done but my mind wasn't. I wanted to stop running so badly but I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to start running again. So I plowed on at a high 8 to low 9 minute/mile pace... One foot in front of the other and repeat... and repeat...

The physical part was over. This was all just a mental game. Cramping was coming into my legs and side aches were appearing but I hobbled on determined to reach my goal. Mile 25 passed. I wanted to push the pace but just couldn't do it, it all hurt too much. With 1/4 mile to go I found sudden energy in my legs, the end was in sight!!! I burst forth and crossed the finish line with my arms in the air and hearing the announcer's voice, "Robert Heinzen! What did you just do? You just ran a marathon!!!"

A little over two years earlier my all out mile was a 7:47. On June 18, 2011 I ran 26.2 miles at a pace of 7:44/mile to finish at 3:22 minutes. A whole 34 minutes ahead of my goal.

Success.