Marathon #4: Marine Corps Marathon, 1996

Enter the discovery of glycogen replacement, such as the magic of "GU"...a new era began...

The Las Vegas Marathon had left its mark. I stepped away from the marathon distance and went back to focusing on shorter distance races and too, did my first team relay race at Hood To Coast the summer of 96. I fell in love with the relay! We had a team of 12 runners, called "Texas Roadkill", who would run a total of 200+ miles from Mt. Hood Oregon to Seaside Oregon in just under 24 hours. I had never in my life had so much fun with running. It was during this time that I learned the importance of "energy replacement" in the form of carbohydrates, or "carbs". This endurance event brought me to a new level of training too--realizing that faster wasn't always better--more miles were the key--slower, easier miles.

Once again, the seed was planted in my brain to run another marathon, as my new friend and team-mate Kris started talking about qualifying for the Boston marathon. She was eyeing the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC as her target race because it was rumored to be a relatively flat course. Amy (yet another friend from the NYC marathon and now a fellow team-mate) and I got on board with this idea, but I can't remember many details as to our particular goals. Qualifying for Boston meant we would have to run the Marine Corps Marathon under a certain time-frame based on our ages. I think Kris had to run a 3:40 time, I had to run a 3:45 time, and Amy had to run a 3:50 time, but I can't be sure. My best time was 3:57 (at Las Vegas), but I felt I could run faster than that. Could I run a 3:45--I wasn't so sure. My mind-set going into the Marine Corps Marathon was to run my fastest time ever, regardless of making the qualifying time, and to enjoy the event.

Amy, Kris, and I

I looked forward to returning to yet another "big" marathon after my ordeal in the desert. With a grand tour of DC this marathon would not disappoint. We would run past the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial by way of the reflecting pool, a jaunt along the Potomac river, and lastly, the Iwo Jima Memorial near the finish in Arlington Ridge Park.

Fast forward to race day morning. There was excitement in the air as approximately 19,000 runners were heading to the starting line. One thing we didn't count on though, was the unseasonably warm and humid weather. It had been just two years ago that Oprah Winfrey had famously ran this race in the pouring pain. We would have none of that today. We started off the race in jog bras and shorts! Kris and I stayed together while Amy stayed further back (I can't remember why, because she was faster than us), and for awhile Dallas runner Frank Moore was with us too, giving us tips and mantras along the way. But early on he looked over at Kris and commented on how "wet" her head was. It was then that I realized Kris was in trouble. The humidity was getting the best of her. She needed to slow her pace, so I went on without her. Obviously, the initial goal of qualifying for the Boston marathon was thrown out the window! This would be a survival run, where we'd have to pay a  lot of attention to fluid intake, especially as the day grew warmer.

Frank Moore stayed with me for several miles, and it was comforting, as he was a veteran marathoner, and kept saying things like, "At mile 20 I thought I was dead. At mile 22 I wished I was dead. At mile 24 I knew I was dead. At mile 26.2 I realized I had become too tough to kill." That's still my favorite! Even with the bad weather I was finally getting it right, taking in "GU" gels for energy and keeping my pace at a reasonable level, and most importantly, not getting to that point where I wanted to sit on the ground and refuse to get up. Before I knew it I was cresting the Iwo Jima "Hill" as spectators, a lot of which were military veterans, were shouting out at us, urging us to not stop and walk. It was the highlight of the whole race for sure! I crossed the line with a time of 3:51, taking 6 minutes off my best time, but more importantly, the last 10K wasn't total torture as it had been before.

As soon as I crossed the line I was so excited I made a beeline to the photo area to have this picture taken:

Then I hurried back to the finish line to catch Kris and Amy. Amy finished, and had a story as to what had happened to Kris. She said she passed Kris on the course and Kris was feeling sick, so Amy had her sit down on a bench for a moment, and when Kris started feeling better Amy continued on. So we waited with worry, until Kris finally did arrive! She had a grand story to tell! She had gotten sick--I think she even threw up on a policeman's shoe! They put her in an ambulance and were packing her in ice, telling her that her day was done. She sat up and said, "I came all this f*cking way to get that medal, and I'm going to get that f*cking medal!" She got out of the ambulance and started walking. For awhile they sort of followed her until they realized she wasn't getting back in! She would walk, run, get sick, walk, run, etc. until she made her way to the finish line!

Later that night we hung out in our hotel room with Amy's friend Michael and his friend and drank way too much wine. I have no recollection as to why we never made it out on the town! The next day we played tourists before heading home.

Room service hated us

Amy insisted that I wear my medal ;)

We had a wonderful time in DC, and the marathon was a great experience, but to this day it is not one of my top marathons. It was way too crowded, especially at the start, and from what I hear that is still an issue. (Actually, it's more of an issue now because it is even bigger). Today's course, although flatter (I forgot to mention that this course was not as flat as advertised), it does not get as close to the monuments or the White House, for obvious security reasons. In fact, since 9/11 and the Boston marathon bombing the security needed at this marathon has in some ways ruined it, sadly, at least for me. I will keep my fond memory though!

Marathon #3 Las Vegas International Marathon 1995

Everybody always asks me what my favorite marathon was. Big Sur, without a doubt, but nobody ever asks me what my least favorite marathon was. The Las Vegas International marathon, without a doubt...

I'm not saying that it was my slowest or poorest execution of a marathon, nor am I saying that it was my most difficult marathon. It was just by far my least favorite marathon all around. The thing is I was on a quest to break 4 hours in a marathon, and my friend Christine (one of my NYC marathon buddies) was on a quest to break 3 hours. We weren't really looking closely at the finer details--only the net downhill course that would guarantee PR runs. (PR = personal record). Not only that, but a trip to Las Vegas sounded like a lot of fun, so hey, decision made. We did have a great group, and we did have a lot of fun in Vegas, but out there on the course, oh boy, not so much. (At least not for me).

The entire event, including the expo, was on the outskirts of town.The expo was in a tent. The course was laid out as a point to point, with the starting line out on the old Jean highway and the finish line at the Family Vacation Village, just shy of the Las Vegas strip by about 5 miles or so. The run would be entirely in the desert. This was all ok with us, as the elevation chart showed that after an initial gradual uphill half marathon the course would make a rapid descent for the next 9 miles, then  flatten out from mile 22 to the finish. There would be one turn on the entire route, and that would be the turn to the finish line--about 200 feet or so.

On race day morning we were bused out to the starting line, which literally was just a line drawn on the road. There was absolutely nothing else out there! There was not a cloud in the sky, and although chilly at first (52 degrees), it was going to warm up quite rapidly. Janet (also one of my NYC marathon buddies) was injured, so she told us that she would be out on the course on a mountain bike later to check on us, so I had that to look forward to. And off we went! Obviously, I would not see Christine again until the finish!

Race day morning--2 women with goals!

From my memory and marathon log splits I really struggled with the initial up-hill climbing. I wrote that some of the climbs were "steep", and I was not happy to see that at the halfway mark my time was at 1:55. I would be cutting it close to break the 4 hour barrier, but I had the downhill portion ahead, so my mood was not that bad, but I did feel like it was "work". Without anything out there to distract me, I was focused on pacing, which after the last marathon was a good thing! We crested the last hill and for the first time we could see the city of Las Vegas in the horizon. At first this excited me, until I realized that, a: the horizon never moved, and b: The Luxor Hotel, our hotel, the pyramid, was the closest building in view. Every time I looked up I would see the buildings in the same spot, so I continued to look down at the yellow line in the highway. At this point the temperature had climbed and I was slowing down, even with the aid of the downhill course. I was still pacing ok enough to break 4 hours at this point, but I could feel myself unraveling inside. The boredom of the course was probably the worst thing I was dealing with. There was a guy dressed like Elvis out there singing with a boom box, and someone with a toy plane, but that was it for entertainment.

 Finally, at around mile 21 Janet showed up on her bike. She told me she must have missed me and had ridden further back in the pack looking for me. I could feel myself irritated and wondering how far back did she go until she realized she missed me? I mean how bad did the people have to start looking until she thought to herself that I had to be ahead? See, this is how the devil creeps in your brain. It starts off with a seemingly benign minor irritation. Then she asked me if I was doing ok on water, because the water stops were total chaos. Apparently I was just a step ahead of the aid station meltdown, at least until the next one, where there were no cups and people grabbing at the pitchers in the volunteer's hands. I was really lucky to have Janet to get me through all of that!

When the road went from downhill to flat it felt like we were going uphill. It was the most excruciating pain! I started to slow to a walk and that's when Janet said to me that if I walked I would not make it under 4 hours. I wanted to scream, cry, cuss, but all I did was whimper a bit and start running again. She was right. God how I hated her. :)  She continued talking to me, telling me stories to take my mind off my agony, and I flipped between being eternally grateful for the distraction and wanting to scream shut the hell up! At one point I came perilously close to just stopping, sitting in the middle of the road, and refusing to get up. I will never forget that feeling, and luckily, I rarely ever feel that way, but I do know that urge could be lurking out there and it truly is the devil. To fight that devil and win is such a great indescribable victory, and probably yet another reason why I love the marathon. At any rate, at last the horizon did indeed start to appear closer and closer, and it became apparent to me that I was going to break 4 hours, and that the torture of such a boring marathon was finally going to end.

Did I mention I was totally sunburned on one side?

My finishing time was 3:57 and Christine's time was a 2:58! We accomplished what we had set out to do! The finish area had nothing but green bananas, stale popcorn, and water served in little paper dixie cups that crumpled after one use, so I think I went through 5 cheap paper cups of water! We were in an exposed parking lot with no shade and really no reason to stick around, so that was the end of the glorious marathon experience called the "Las vegas International Marathon".  Of all of my marathon medals, this is the only one that has oxidized severely over the years to where it is hardly legible:

It is funny how to this day I consider this marathon, my third marathon, my least favorite by far. I suppose it is a testament as to how much effort I put into researching the marathons that I choose to do, but it's also worth noting that I have long since stopped considering running marathons for the sake of a PR or even a "fast time".  They did improve this marathon over the years, bringing the starting line in a few miles closer, making the initial uphill less and actually finishing on the strip! Eventually, though, they sold out to the Competitor group, so it is now part of the "Rock and Roll" marathon series, with a night time run that is entirely within the city, so it is an entirely different race altogether. Good riddance I say!

Marathon #2: Dallas White Rock Marathon 1993

I ran my first marathon (NYC Marathon 1992) without any real consideration of pace or finishing time, which I highly suggest as the time goal for your first marathon. Plan to make all your painful rookie pacing mistakes during your second marathon...

Looking back on my training log (and yes I have it all on record) I can see the rookie mistakes I made in training. First of all, I was still running a lot of local races. I was racing pretty hard on some Saturdays and attempting to run long runs the next day. Secondly, I ran all my long runs way too fast. I didn't get injured by doing these two things, only because I was young. Only. The last mistake I made (for me) was that I only did 3 "long" runs: 18, 20 and 21 mile runs. Today, in my 50's, my goal is to run the following long runs: 18, 20, 21, 22, and 23 miles. And at a much slower pace. Still, not knowing I had made any mistakes, I went into the marathon feeling pretty confident that I could at least break 4 hours, if not run a 3:50 marathon time.

What laid before me was a near perfect day weather wise, and the course itself was not too daunting. The 1993 course started and finished in front of the Convention Center downtown, headed to White Rock lake via Turtle Creek, then onto Mockingbird Lane. From there it ran all the way to Williamson, where the runners approached the lake at West Lawther, looped the lake (including Northwest Highway), then headed back to downtown via Lakewood and Swiss Avenue. My parents were going to be at the finish line, so I told them to look for me to arrive somewhere between 3:50 and 4 hours. If I was to show up after 4 hours I would not be happy. That's what I told them! Oh my gosh that makes me laugh now, but in all seriousness "on paper", based on my current race times for the 10K and half marathon, it was a totally realistic number. Not to mention the fact that I ran all my long runs near that pace...(Projected pace was to be 8:40 minutes per mile. Keep that in mind as you read on).

The race starts. Unlike the NYC marathon, where the masses slowly moved towards the starting line, everyone is screaming by like scalded apes and I feel like I am standing still. At the first mile marker (8:06 pace) I realize I am already blowing it, but I am having a hard time slowing down. People are continually passing me for the next few miles. I'd like to point out that the reason why this happened is because I made the rookie mistake of lining up with the faster runners, a bad habit of running shorter races! My first 5K split pace was 8:27. Uh oh. And 10K split was 8:28. UH OH. And mile 15: 8:30 pace. WHAT THE HELL?

But let me back track to my "nutrition plan". This was before there were gels, or at least before I had bothered to try them. I had gotten into the habit of eating pieces of Power Bars in training. If you aren't familiar with them--they have the consistency of putty and come in a pliable bar. I had a baggie of cut up pieces pinned to my shorts, and the plan was to eat these pieces along the way. Well it was really cold, so when I put a piece into my mouth it was as hard as a rock. As I came to a water stop and unsuccessfully tried to get it down with water I just spit the whole thing out, much to the horror of the volunteers, thinking I was throwing up. So much for that plan. The only thing I took in that day was water and Gatorade. (Today I take in 4-5 gels and/or possibly chews for nutrition).

According to my marathon log book with my splits, mile 15 was to be my last sub 9 minute mile. The damage had been done. Let the learning process begin! Maybe this is why I love the marathon distance. If you don't get it right you will pay! You've made your bed! People are waiting at the finish! Friends will want to hear how you did. You bought the damn jacket. The shame of dropping out would be too much to bear. So here I was, in a very ugly place, with 11.2 miles to go...In the distance, far far away, across the lake,  I could see the buildings of downtown. Oh boy.

And so it went, some running, a little walking, a little whimpering here and there, some anger, and some camaraderie with those in the same boat, as each mile clicked away. My friends Doug Dodge and David Gay were waiting for me at mile 20 to run me in. I cried a little and told them how much I sucked. They flanked me on each side and provided a lot of humor. They would prod me into running here and there. At mile 23 or so my friend Mary Werling (Kerslake) joined us, so now it was a fun little party on the way to downtown. My spirits finally lifted as the end grew closer, and I picked it up to run it in with a finishing time of 4:03. And yes, I was very happy with that finishing time, contrary to what I told my parents, because I had survived my many mistakes and learned some very valuable lessons to carry me to the next marathon, because oh yes, there would definitely be another one. Even though it was an entirely different experience than the NYC marathon, crossing the finish line was yet again a magical moment!

My first official marathon finish line photo! Final rookie mistake: don't look at your stupid watch!

Not a favorite, but hey, a medal