To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)
- Thread starter DopeyBadger
- Start date
RunDisneyDad
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2015
Congrats @DopeyBadger !
Barca33Runner
Please excuse the crudity of this model
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2014
Congrats on the new PR! Hope you are happy with your race.
Baloo in MI
I don’t have to, I get to.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2015
Congratulations! You are the epitome of hard work pays off!
dis_or_dat
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2016
Great job you crushed your PR!!!!! For some reason the tracking wasn't working for me. Thankfully everyone posted updates here.
YOU. ARE. AWESOME!!!!!!!!
YOU. ARE. AWESOME!!!!!!!!
ebradley23
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2014
Awesome job!
pixarmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2009
Congrats on your PR @DopeyBadger!!! We were out there cheering between mile 22 and 23, and when I saw the 3:25 pacer go by, I assumed we missed you. Our friends must have been just a little bit behind you! Such a fun atmosphere out on Lake Drive - love the guy in the bathrobe on the side of the road.
DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
Thanks!
Wahoo!
Thanks for tracking! A tough run but I was able to gut it out.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Thanks for following along!
Congratulations!
Thanks!
Thanks! I gave it everything I had.
Thanks!
Great job you crushed your PR!!!!! For some reason the tracking wasn't working for me. Thankfully everyone posted updates here.
YOU. ARE. AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Thanks!
Thanks!
I was driving in my car this morning thinking "billy is out there running this distance right now!" Awesome job getting that PR! I'm super impressed!!! Looking forward to reading about how everything went. Hope you got your victory Gigi hug!
Thanks! It was the same for me as our route to the starting line takes us past the finish line (point-to-point race). And a reminder this morning I have to run all the way back there.
Thanks! I saw a few people between 22-23 and said hi to each of them hoping one may have been you. Oh well, next time! And the guy in the bathrobe.... I was a little freaked out by him. I was like please, please let their not be a brisk wind...
Thanks!
Thanks! Up next, write a recap!
Thanks!
Thank you to you all! I'm blessed to have so many people care!
DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
2016 Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon
This was my 9th marathon and 2nd time competing in the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. When I ran this race last year, it was my first time using Hansons and my goal was to break 4 hours. I ended up having one of the best racing experiences of my life and re-invigorated my love for endurance running. I ended up running a 3:38 with a new HM PR, new 10K PR, and new 5K PR. I went into this plan with the most aggressive training plan I've ever made and was attempting to recapture the magic. So, let's see how it went!
The day started on time with a wake-up alarm at 3:30am. The first thing to check off the list - Am I SICK?!?! While I did have a cold sweat last night, I didn't seem to have any residual effects once I woke up. No headache, no sniffles, no nothing. I felt good and happy to clear the first race day obstacle. Everything went without a hitch and we were in the car by 4:45am off to Grafton, WI. The drive was normal and as we passed Milwaukee towards Grafton the light rain started. Based on the radar, it appeared that the light rain was going to be a consistent environmental player. I wasn't concerned about it, I could take on the extra challenge. Race start weather T+D 110 with clouds, heavy drizzle, a 7mph North wind and 100% humidity.
We weren't able to park where we wanted to last year because the race got wise to us and put us further away from the start until the further lots filled first. So the plan was to get ready in the car (to avoid the rain), but because we were too far away, the plan changed and we went to the high school meeting area. A momentary glitch in the plan when I stopped at the port-potties and had Steph go inside because once I got inside we couldn't find each other for a few minutes. Disaster everted and just enough time to start getting ready, stretched, and warmed up.
Started the warm-up around 7:00am with a very light easy jog. Coming into the day I was concerned about my right hip (would it hold up?), my right knee (was the soreness real?), my right calf (was it fully healed?), my left ankle (was the soreness real or just more taper madness?), and "Jelly Legs" (was the occurrences of this a sign of over training?). Thankfully not a single one of these things felt out of the ordinary. But I did have an odd sensation of shin splits in my left leg. I was like "Ummm, what's that?" Shin splint? Really? I can't say I've had one of those since years ago. But I was willing to chalk it up to more late onset taper madness. Warm-up finished, ate an E-Gel at 15 min prior to race start, and said my goodbyes to the family.
I lined up near the front with the 3:15 pacer. An official walked up to me and said, "If you plan to finish Top 5, you can't have headphones." I said I appreciated it, but there was no way I was finishing top 5. And then before I knew it, we were off.
As a reminder, I am blind to my paces (as much as I could) and thus the paces and splits presented in this recap are for your reading pleasure. I had (almost) no idea what my paces were during the race, although with clocks, and pace groups it was hard to ignore.
MILE - SPLIT - PREDICTED FINISH TIME
Mile 1 - 7:51 (3:25:40)
I lined up next to the 3:15 pacer. I also shaded my lining up to the left of the start. Normally I shade to the side of the first turn (about at the 1/4 mark on the starting line). But this race has a right turn, and then a quick circle left. It was more important to get close to the inner circle then making the first turn quickly. 5....4....3....2....1... GO! And we're off. As planned I started my watch, and then went blind by switching to "clock" mode. The 3:15 pace group quickly left me (good, nice slow start). Lots of Ghosts floating about and racing by me. See you guys later in the race! And at about 0.25-0.5 miles in the 3:25 pace group caught me. I was a tad concerned but was fine if my pace was truly in the 7:48 area. Nothing of note about the mile. Comfortable... Easy... was happy with how my body felt. No clock at the end of mile 1 (success! still blind!), and no people yelling out splits at each mile marker. The rain was still a heavy drizzle with a light wind of 7-10 mph (mostly from the North).
Mile 2 - 7:40 (3:23:49)
Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group. Still comfortable. Still slightly concerned that I was behind the 3:25 group, but still willing to keep running my race. Rain still coming down and now it was becoming apparent this might be an issue. The roads were filling with some nice puddles and it was going to be near impossible to keep my feet dry.
Mile 3 - 7:42 (3:22:54)
Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group. Still comfortable. I was actually getting more concerned that I was STILL behind the 3:25 group. I mean I felt easy and comfortable, but how were they staying ahead of me so easily. I continued to get passed but was still happy with my position amongst other runners.
Mile 4 - 7:47 (3:23:10)
Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group. Still comfortable. I started to think to myself there is no way, they're running a 7:48 min/mile. They're going too fast, that must be it. Still no pain, still chopping down the miles.
Mile 5 - 7:42 (3:22:53)
Everything is going to plan. Filling up at water stations into my 10oz Nathan handheld. Still behind the 3:25 pace group but now I was like whatever, they clearly don't know what they're doing. Clothes are soaked. Shoes are soaked. Socks are soaked. Just gotta keep running. Started to feel a little "jelly legs" and was like "whoa, whoa, way too early for that". I decided to switch up my stride and focus on something even shorter. Thankfully this solved the problem momentarily. It was something I had to do continuously throughout the remainder of the run (normal stride, then jelly, then short stride, then normal feeling, then normal stride, etc.)
Mile 6 - 7:38 (3:22:24)
Still going to plan. Still behind the 3:25 pace group.
Mile 7 - 7:42 (3:22:22)
Oh man, the first mat is coming up at 10K. Gotta stay blinded. I could see there was a clock coming up, but I squinted so I couldn't see the numbers. Successfully passed the mat without seeing the splits. Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group.
Mile 8 - 7:21 (3:21:08)
We entered Concordia University and the first heavily spectated area. This was also the first time I ate a mid-race E-Gel. MMMmm... Raspberry! And then suddenly I felt a rush of energy. I felt like Oh, man this is marathon pace. And within seconds I went from 25-50m behind the 3:25, to ahead of them, hoping to never see them again. A bit of a windy (not environmental) course area. Lots of quick turns. Conquered everything without issue.
Mile 9 - 7:30 (3:20:40)
Now we're moving! Now we're hitting our stride. Turn up the tunes and get ready to get in the groove! Started to chomp loads of ghosts. No one was passing me, although a few people were less than thrilled that I was passing them. Not that they tried to block me, but they seemed like they tried to match me for 100-200m and then were willing to back off because my pace was too rich for them. It was mile 7 last year at which no one passed me. I was hoping to recapture that same magic, but clearly the people towards the front of the race aren't as willing to let you chomp them! Also, welcome to mile 1 of the race! Longest run in training was 18 miles, so here we are at mile 1 at least that's what I tell myself mentally. The feeling I had at this point of the race was similar to how I felt on mile 1 of an 18 mile long run. Perfect, everything still going to plan.
Mile 10 - 7:32 (3:20:21)
Keep crushing it! The next few miles were unremarkable and started to blend together.
Mile 11 - 7:41 (3:20:28)
Keep crushing it! It was around this point that there were a group of us Pac-Mans. I couldn't shake them, they didn't want me to shake them, and together we were chomping! One guy from UWM tried to talk to me, but I didn't realize until after we were apart. Sorry dude, wasn't ignoring, just didn't hear you. I realized he tried to talk to me because for the next 3-4 miles he was chatting it up with everyone around us.
Mile 12 - 7:26 (3:20:02)
Keep crushing it!
Mile 13 - 7:33 (3:19:52)
Keep crushing it!
Mile 14 - 7:26 (3:19:30)
And we started to approach the next timing mat. This was placed at the top of a hill right after a water aid station. There was no chance to squint through this one. So I saw the 1:40:xx and broke the blind. Alright, started to do some math. I was at 1:40 in the HM, thus I'm on pace for 3:20 and with a likely sprint to the finish I got this! Last year I went 6-7 minutes faster on the back half so 3:13-3:14 was my intended area. I also did some really bad math and was like well I was with the 3:25 group until mile 7. And they'll hit the HM point at 1:50 (wrong) and thus I made up 10 minutes on them from mile 7-13.1 (wrong), so I must have run roughly 1:15 min/mile faster than 7:48 (wrong). Wow I was running a 6:30ish min/mile (wrong). No wonder people are struggling to keep up with me. LOL! Marathon math.... What it did do was give me an even larger boost of confidence that I was crushing it and just needed to maintain pace. I got this!
Mile 15 - 7:29 (3:19:18)
Me, two UWM guys, and a triathlete continued to stick together. No one was willing to let any others get away. I had my mile 14 E-Gel, Watermelon! Felt another boost of strength. Ready to crush this!
Mile 16 - 7:27 (3:19:02)
And the trouble begins... I was really starting to struggle to breathe. The rain was becoming a nuisance because it wasn't a heavy rain, but more a heavy drizzle. So it was just sitting on my face and then was going into my nose. It was blocking up my ability to breathe. I kept focusing on 1+1+2 and 1+1+3. And each time I focused I was able to get my breath back on track, but it was taking more focus then I wanted to give it. Then my left leg started giving me issues. That shin split pain from warm-up was back and making itself very known. Just keep pushing! Remember all of those memories. Stay strong. Fight through this. It will get better.
Mile 17 - 7:36 (3:19:03)
Keep holding on! You're doing great. Keep focusing on breathing, ignore the pain in your leg. Remember those who would love to run today but are actually injured. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Mile 18 - 7:41 (3:19:12)
Could feel the pace start to slip. I lost contact with the fellow Pac-Mans. I can still see them. Just keep them in view. Still no one passing me. I'm doing great!
Mile 19 - 7:36 (3:19:11)
Breathing, left leg pain... where did this come from??? Breathing was rarely an issue in training. Cardiovascularly I was doing great most of training. I thought the legs would be my limiting factor. But not breathing. I mean it was hard to breathe at mile 24-26 in last year's Lakefront, but so soon?
Mile 20 - 7:41 (3:19:19)
Breathing, left leg pain... So many side stitches. Just got to get rid of this. FOCUS....FOCUS.... This was the point at which last year I met up with the 3:40 pace group. I was hopeful to hit the 3:15 pace group here as well, but when I rounded the corner... they weren't there. I knew this was a bad sign. My pace was starting to continue to slip and for the first time people were coming up on me. Keep breathing, ignore the pain.... YOU"VE GOT THIS!!! YOU"RE STRONGER THAN THIS!!!
Mile 21 - 7:49 (3:19:35)
Breathing....left leg pain.... So, So close. Just keep hanging on. The sad part was other than the left leg pain and breathing I was feeling great. No fatigue of any kind. If I could just power through the pain and get my breathing in order I could still do this. Just don't stop! You can't stop! At this point in the race there was no guarantee I'd be able to get going again. I also saw the Mile 20 clock at 2:32:xx. I said to myself as long as I can stay under 10 min/miles I will likely get a new PR. Given how poor I feel right now, I can do this. I can still PR even with everything going on.
Mile 22 - 8:06 (3:20:10)
Breathing....left leg pain.... Last E-Gel at Mile 21 marker. I had to make a decision. Was my breathing problems related to my carb consumption. Were my side stitches because of carbs or poor breathing rhythm. I decided to go for it. Maybe this E-Gel would be the boost I needed. Ignore the pain and get that breathing in order! Remember the memories!
Mile 23 - 7:57 (3:20:31)
Pace is slipping. Left leg feels awful! Just gotta make a few more miles. Just a few more minutes of running. Then it's over. Then I get two weeks off. Just give me everything you got. Ignore the pain and make it to the finish line.
Mile 24 - 8:15 (3:21:12)
Pace is getting tougher. Eventually there's going to be a big downhill. The breathing was getting a tad easier.
Mile 25 - 8:10 (3:21:42)
And the watch blind is removed! I saw an 8:10 min/mile and 3:04 overall time. I was happy. I knew If I ran the last 2+ miles in under 12 min/mile I'd nail a new PR. It would be tough but I'd give everything I had to make it to the finish line. I thought maybe something between 3:22-3:24 was the most likely outcome. Just ignore it. Push... Push... Push...
Mile 26 - 8:21 (3:22:23)
ONE MILE LEFT!!! You can do this. You're doing great! The breathing was coming under control but the leg was still a beast. And then out of no where something that had NEVER happened to me in my 4 years of running. CRAMP in my right quad! AHHH! What is going on? What do I do? I'm soooooo close! I can't stop! If I do then a 8:00 min/mile will become a 20:00 min/mile. I CAN"T STOP! PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!
Mile 26.2 - 8:05 (3:23:45) *Ran 26.36 miles per Garmin
There it is! I see it. I see the clock! You've got a sub-3:25, keep going! I took out my headphones, slapped on a big smile, waved to the family and crossed the finish line!
And then it happened. As soon as I crossed the line I was overcome with pain! AHHHH! I waddled my way through the finisher's area. Got my medal. Got some food. Found my family. Gigi ran up and said "DADDY!"
And then limped over to the runner's tent. Sat in a chair and just zoned out. Drank two chocolate milks, and then tried to stand up. Nope... Nope, Nope, Nope... I did my best to do a few stretches, but it was clear it wasn't happening. Tried to go down to the ground but I just couldn't do it. I decided just to fall on the grass and hope for the best. Got some stretches in on the ground and seemed better. Decided to take a few pics with the family!
She's taking notes on Daddy's performance. Please, please no questions media! Yes, it was a PR! Yes, it was a good race! Yes, I wish things would have gone differently, but I did the best I could today.
What a FACE?!?!
She's wearing my medal!
Tadahhhh! We finished!
Said to the family time to make the SLOW saunter to the parked car. I was having trouble keeping up with the family and just kept slowly limping along. Then it went from bad to worse! My left leg was finally ready to call it quits. I would take a few steps and then stop and bend over in pain. Then a few steps and more pain. It took me about 15 minutes to walk 100-200m. Eventually a spectator asked me if they could help me and around this time my wife noticed I was no longer with them and came back to help. She got under my arm and we limped back to the car together. Time for the 1.5 hr drive back home.
It was apparent my leg was in rough shape. Every bump was a pain. I couldn't even move it without it an immense sense of pain. Finally made it back home and my wife and I thought more group limping was the best strategy. As soon as my left foot hit the ground I was like AHHHH I can't put weight on it. Ouch! We made it to the stairs and decided crawling up the stairs was the best strategy. Slowly but surely I made it. Then I laid there in the living room... What to do? We decided to blow up the air mattress in the living room and just to prop my leg up with ice. Hopefully, I can rest this.
So here I lay with a leg wrapped in ice and immobility.
Overall Review
A tough, tough, tough run. At 7:30am, I didn't imagine the run would be that tough. I didn't think it would be my left leg and breathing that would be my limiting factors. Just no good indications during all of training and that either of these things would crop up. But that's just it. It's endurance running. After you run for so long eventually something will fail. It's how you deal with it that defines the run. The goal with every race I do is to do my best on that day. Today my best was 3:23:43. Tomorrow it could have been 3:17. The day prior it could have been 3:09. A day later maybe 3:45. That's the joy of endurance running. You can train your butt off and something can throw it off. That's ok! It's time to spend the next two weeks recovering from this race. Although, it might require more than 2 weeks to recover based on the extent of what's wrong with my left leg. I'll be taking a cautious approach.
Final Stats
Official Time - 3:23:43 (7:46 min/mile)
Overall Finish Place - 195/2663 (7.3 %)
Overall Gender Place - 165/1316 (12.5%)
Overall Division Place - 31/157 (19.7%)
This means I set a new Marathon PR, a new Finish Place PR (7.3%), a new Gender Place PR (12.5%), and a new Division Place PR (19.7%). So, yes it was a tough day, but it was still a very good race for me.
*Lots of non-finishers / non-starters as there were 2991 registered, 2663 started, but only 1902 finished. A total of 28.7% of the field didn't finish, but started. YIKES! Must have been a tougher race then I thought!
Time to update my lifetime race chart!
Well, that's all I got. I'd like to thank all of your for all your support! I'd also like to thank my wife. Without you, days like today aren't possible. And there is NO WAY, I would have been able to drive myself back home with this leg issue. Or take care of the kid when I got home. Or make any food. Seriously, thanks! And of course to Gigi. She said "Don't worry Dad, I'll take care of you. The stars come out at night in the sky." Not sure what she meant by that, but maybe it means even when nothing seems to go right, there's always a bright side. Thanks G!
This was my 9th marathon and 2nd time competing in the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. When I ran this race last year, it was my first time using Hansons and my goal was to break 4 hours. I ended up having one of the best racing experiences of my life and re-invigorated my love for endurance running. I ended up running a 3:38 with a new HM PR, new 10K PR, and new 5K PR. I went into this plan with the most aggressive training plan I've ever made and was attempting to recapture the magic. So, let's see how it went!
The day started on time with a wake-up alarm at 3:30am. The first thing to check off the list - Am I SICK?!?! While I did have a cold sweat last night, I didn't seem to have any residual effects once I woke up. No headache, no sniffles, no nothing. I felt good and happy to clear the first race day obstacle. Everything went without a hitch and we were in the car by 4:45am off to Grafton, WI. The drive was normal and as we passed Milwaukee towards Grafton the light rain started. Based on the radar, it appeared that the light rain was going to be a consistent environmental player. I wasn't concerned about it, I could take on the extra challenge. Race start weather T+D 110 with clouds, heavy drizzle, a 7mph North wind and 100% humidity.
We weren't able to park where we wanted to last year because the race got wise to us and put us further away from the start until the further lots filled first. So the plan was to get ready in the car (to avoid the rain), but because we were too far away, the plan changed and we went to the high school meeting area. A momentary glitch in the plan when I stopped at the port-potties and had Steph go inside because once I got inside we couldn't find each other for a few minutes. Disaster everted and just enough time to start getting ready, stretched, and warmed up.
Started the warm-up around 7:00am with a very light easy jog. Coming into the day I was concerned about my right hip (would it hold up?), my right knee (was the soreness real?), my right calf (was it fully healed?), my left ankle (was the soreness real or just more taper madness?), and "Jelly Legs" (was the occurrences of this a sign of over training?). Thankfully not a single one of these things felt out of the ordinary. But I did have an odd sensation of shin splits in my left leg. I was like "Ummm, what's that?" Shin splint? Really? I can't say I've had one of those since years ago. But I was willing to chalk it up to more late onset taper madness. Warm-up finished, ate an E-Gel at 15 min prior to race start, and said my goodbyes to the family.
I lined up near the front with the 3:15 pacer. An official walked up to me and said, "If you plan to finish Top 5, you can't have headphones." I said I appreciated it, but there was no way I was finishing top 5. And then before I knew it, we were off.
As a reminder, I am blind to my paces (as much as I could) and thus the paces and splits presented in this recap are for your reading pleasure. I had (almost) no idea what my paces were during the race, although with clocks, and pace groups it was hard to ignore.
MILE - SPLIT - PREDICTED FINISH TIME
Mile 1 - 7:51 (3:25:40)
I lined up next to the 3:15 pacer. I also shaded my lining up to the left of the start. Normally I shade to the side of the first turn (about at the 1/4 mark on the starting line). But this race has a right turn, and then a quick circle left. It was more important to get close to the inner circle then making the first turn quickly. 5....4....3....2....1... GO! And we're off. As planned I started my watch, and then went blind by switching to "clock" mode. The 3:15 pace group quickly left me (good, nice slow start). Lots of Ghosts floating about and racing by me. See you guys later in the race! And at about 0.25-0.5 miles in the 3:25 pace group caught me. I was a tad concerned but was fine if my pace was truly in the 7:48 area. Nothing of note about the mile. Comfortable... Easy... was happy with how my body felt. No clock at the end of mile 1 (success! still blind!), and no people yelling out splits at each mile marker. The rain was still a heavy drizzle with a light wind of 7-10 mph (mostly from the North).
Mile 2 - 7:40 (3:23:49)
Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group. Still comfortable. Still slightly concerned that I was behind the 3:25 group, but still willing to keep running my race. Rain still coming down and now it was becoming apparent this might be an issue. The roads were filling with some nice puddles and it was going to be near impossible to keep my feet dry.
Mile 3 - 7:42 (3:22:54)
Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group. Still comfortable. I was actually getting more concerned that I was STILL behind the 3:25 group. I mean I felt easy and comfortable, but how were they staying ahead of me so easily. I continued to get passed but was still happy with my position amongst other runners.
Mile 4 - 7:47 (3:23:10)
Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group. Still comfortable. I started to think to myself there is no way, they're running a 7:48 min/mile. They're going too fast, that must be it. Still no pain, still chopping down the miles.
Mile 5 - 7:42 (3:22:53)
Everything is going to plan. Filling up at water stations into my 10oz Nathan handheld. Still behind the 3:25 pace group but now I was like whatever, they clearly don't know what they're doing. Clothes are soaked. Shoes are soaked. Socks are soaked. Just gotta keep running. Started to feel a little "jelly legs" and was like "whoa, whoa, way too early for that". I decided to switch up my stride and focus on something even shorter. Thankfully this solved the problem momentarily. It was something I had to do continuously throughout the remainder of the run (normal stride, then jelly, then short stride, then normal feeling, then normal stride, etc.)
Mile 6 - 7:38 (3:22:24)
Still going to plan. Still behind the 3:25 pace group.
Mile 7 - 7:42 (3:22:22)
Oh man, the first mat is coming up at 10K. Gotta stay blinded. I could see there was a clock coming up, but I squinted so I couldn't see the numbers. Successfully passed the mat without seeing the splits. Still about 25-50m behind the 3:25 pace group.
Mile 8 - 7:21 (3:21:08)
We entered Concordia University and the first heavily spectated area. This was also the first time I ate a mid-race E-Gel. MMMmm... Raspberry! And then suddenly I felt a rush of energy. I felt like Oh, man this is marathon pace. And within seconds I went from 25-50m behind the 3:25, to ahead of them, hoping to never see them again. A bit of a windy (not environmental) course area. Lots of quick turns. Conquered everything without issue.
Mile 9 - 7:30 (3:20:40)
Now we're moving! Now we're hitting our stride. Turn up the tunes and get ready to get in the groove! Started to chomp loads of ghosts. No one was passing me, although a few people were less than thrilled that I was passing them. Not that they tried to block me, but they seemed like they tried to match me for 100-200m and then were willing to back off because my pace was too rich for them. It was mile 7 last year at which no one passed me. I was hoping to recapture that same magic, but clearly the people towards the front of the race aren't as willing to let you chomp them! Also, welcome to mile 1 of the race! Longest run in training was 18 miles, so here we are at mile 1 at least that's what I tell myself mentally. The feeling I had at this point of the race was similar to how I felt on mile 1 of an 18 mile long run. Perfect, everything still going to plan.
Mile 10 - 7:32 (3:20:21)
Keep crushing it! The next few miles were unremarkable and started to blend together.
Mile 11 - 7:41 (3:20:28)
Keep crushing it! It was around this point that there were a group of us Pac-Mans. I couldn't shake them, they didn't want me to shake them, and together we were chomping! One guy from UWM tried to talk to me, but I didn't realize until after we were apart. Sorry dude, wasn't ignoring, just didn't hear you. I realized he tried to talk to me because for the next 3-4 miles he was chatting it up with everyone around us.
Mile 12 - 7:26 (3:20:02)
Keep crushing it!
Mile 13 - 7:33 (3:19:52)
Keep crushing it!
Mile 14 - 7:26 (3:19:30)
And we started to approach the next timing mat. This was placed at the top of a hill right after a water aid station. There was no chance to squint through this one. So I saw the 1:40:xx and broke the blind. Alright, started to do some math. I was at 1:40 in the HM, thus I'm on pace for 3:20 and with a likely sprint to the finish I got this! Last year I went 6-7 minutes faster on the back half so 3:13-3:14 was my intended area. I also did some really bad math and was like well I was with the 3:25 group until mile 7. And they'll hit the HM point at 1:50 (wrong) and thus I made up 10 minutes on them from mile 7-13.1 (wrong), so I must have run roughly 1:15 min/mile faster than 7:48 (wrong). Wow I was running a 6:30ish min/mile (wrong). No wonder people are struggling to keep up with me. LOL! Marathon math.... What it did do was give me an even larger boost of confidence that I was crushing it and just needed to maintain pace. I got this!
Mile 15 - 7:29 (3:19:18)
Me, two UWM guys, and a triathlete continued to stick together. No one was willing to let any others get away. I had my mile 14 E-Gel, Watermelon! Felt another boost of strength. Ready to crush this!
Mile 16 - 7:27 (3:19:02)
And the trouble begins... I was really starting to struggle to breathe. The rain was becoming a nuisance because it wasn't a heavy rain, but more a heavy drizzle. So it was just sitting on my face and then was going into my nose. It was blocking up my ability to breathe. I kept focusing on 1+1+2 and 1+1+3. And each time I focused I was able to get my breath back on track, but it was taking more focus then I wanted to give it. Then my left leg started giving me issues. That shin split pain from warm-up was back and making itself very known. Just keep pushing! Remember all of those memories. Stay strong. Fight through this. It will get better.
Mile 17 - 7:36 (3:19:03)
Keep holding on! You're doing great. Keep focusing on breathing, ignore the pain in your leg. Remember those who would love to run today but are actually injured. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Mile 18 - 7:41 (3:19:12)
Could feel the pace start to slip. I lost contact with the fellow Pac-Mans. I can still see them. Just keep them in view. Still no one passing me. I'm doing great!
Mile 19 - 7:36 (3:19:11)
Breathing, left leg pain... where did this come from??? Breathing was rarely an issue in training. Cardiovascularly I was doing great most of training. I thought the legs would be my limiting factor. But not breathing. I mean it was hard to breathe at mile 24-26 in last year's Lakefront, but so soon?
Mile 20 - 7:41 (3:19:19)
Breathing, left leg pain... So many side stitches. Just got to get rid of this. FOCUS....FOCUS.... This was the point at which last year I met up with the 3:40 pace group. I was hopeful to hit the 3:15 pace group here as well, but when I rounded the corner... they weren't there. I knew this was a bad sign. My pace was starting to continue to slip and for the first time people were coming up on me. Keep breathing, ignore the pain.... YOU"VE GOT THIS!!! YOU"RE STRONGER THAN THIS!!!
Mile 21 - 7:49 (3:19:35)
Breathing....left leg pain.... So, So close. Just keep hanging on. The sad part was other than the left leg pain and breathing I was feeling great. No fatigue of any kind. If I could just power through the pain and get my breathing in order I could still do this. Just don't stop! You can't stop! At this point in the race there was no guarantee I'd be able to get going again. I also saw the Mile 20 clock at 2:32:xx. I said to myself as long as I can stay under 10 min/miles I will likely get a new PR. Given how poor I feel right now, I can do this. I can still PR even with everything going on.
Mile 22 - 8:06 (3:20:10)
Breathing....left leg pain.... Last E-Gel at Mile 21 marker. I had to make a decision. Was my breathing problems related to my carb consumption. Were my side stitches because of carbs or poor breathing rhythm. I decided to go for it. Maybe this E-Gel would be the boost I needed. Ignore the pain and get that breathing in order! Remember the memories!
Mile 23 - 7:57 (3:20:31)
Pace is slipping. Left leg feels awful! Just gotta make a few more miles. Just a few more minutes of running. Then it's over. Then I get two weeks off. Just give me everything you got. Ignore the pain and make it to the finish line.
Mile 24 - 8:15 (3:21:12)
Pace is getting tougher. Eventually there's going to be a big downhill. The breathing was getting a tad easier.
Mile 25 - 8:10 (3:21:42)
And the watch blind is removed! I saw an 8:10 min/mile and 3:04 overall time. I was happy. I knew If I ran the last 2+ miles in under 12 min/mile I'd nail a new PR. It would be tough but I'd give everything I had to make it to the finish line. I thought maybe something between 3:22-3:24 was the most likely outcome. Just ignore it. Push... Push... Push...
Mile 26 - 8:21 (3:22:23)
ONE MILE LEFT!!! You can do this. You're doing great! The breathing was coming under control but the leg was still a beast. And then out of no where something that had NEVER happened to me in my 4 years of running. CRAMP in my right quad! AHHH! What is going on? What do I do? I'm soooooo close! I can't stop! If I do then a 8:00 min/mile will become a 20:00 min/mile. I CAN"T STOP! PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!
Mile 26.2 - 8:05 (3:23:45) *Ran 26.36 miles per Garmin
There it is! I see it. I see the clock! You've got a sub-3:25, keep going! I took out my headphones, slapped on a big smile, waved to the family and crossed the finish line!
And then it happened. As soon as I crossed the line I was overcome with pain! AHHHH! I waddled my way through the finisher's area. Got my medal. Got some food. Found my family. Gigi ran up and said "DADDY!"
And then limped over to the runner's tent. Sat in a chair and just zoned out. Drank two chocolate milks, and then tried to stand up. Nope... Nope, Nope, Nope... I did my best to do a few stretches, but it was clear it wasn't happening. Tried to go down to the ground but I just couldn't do it. I decided just to fall on the grass and hope for the best. Got some stretches in on the ground and seemed better. Decided to take a few pics with the family!
She's taking notes on Daddy's performance. Please, please no questions media! Yes, it was a PR! Yes, it was a good race! Yes, I wish things would have gone differently, but I did the best I could today.
What a FACE?!?!
She's wearing my medal!
Tadahhhh! We finished!
Said to the family time to make the SLOW saunter to the parked car. I was having trouble keeping up with the family and just kept slowly limping along. Then it went from bad to worse! My left leg was finally ready to call it quits. I would take a few steps and then stop and bend over in pain. Then a few steps and more pain. It took me about 15 minutes to walk 100-200m. Eventually a spectator asked me if they could help me and around this time my wife noticed I was no longer with them and came back to help. She got under my arm and we limped back to the car together. Time for the 1.5 hr drive back home.
It was apparent my leg was in rough shape. Every bump was a pain. I couldn't even move it without it an immense sense of pain. Finally made it back home and my wife and I thought more group limping was the best strategy. As soon as my left foot hit the ground I was like AHHHH I can't put weight on it. Ouch! We made it to the stairs and decided crawling up the stairs was the best strategy. Slowly but surely I made it. Then I laid there in the living room... What to do? We decided to blow up the air mattress in the living room and just to prop my leg up with ice. Hopefully, I can rest this.
So here I lay with a leg wrapped in ice and immobility.
Overall Review
A tough, tough, tough run. At 7:30am, I didn't imagine the run would be that tough. I didn't think it would be my left leg and breathing that would be my limiting factors. Just no good indications during all of training and that either of these things would crop up. But that's just it. It's endurance running. After you run for so long eventually something will fail. It's how you deal with it that defines the run. The goal with every race I do is to do my best on that day. Today my best was 3:23:43. Tomorrow it could have been 3:17. The day prior it could have been 3:09. A day later maybe 3:45. That's the joy of endurance running. You can train your butt off and something can throw it off. That's ok! It's time to spend the next two weeks recovering from this race. Although, it might require more than 2 weeks to recover based on the extent of what's wrong with my left leg. I'll be taking a cautious approach.
Final Stats
Official Time - 3:23:43 (7:46 min/mile)
Overall Finish Place - 195/2663 (7.3 %)
Overall Gender Place - 165/1316 (12.5%)
Overall Division Place - 31/157 (19.7%)
This means I set a new Marathon PR, a new Finish Place PR (7.3%), a new Gender Place PR (12.5%), and a new Division Place PR (19.7%). So, yes it was a tough day, but it was still a very good race for me.
*Lots of non-finishers / non-starters as there were 2991 registered, 2663 started, but only 1902 finished. A total of 28.7% of the field didn't finish, but started. YIKES! Must have been a tougher race then I thought!
Time to update my lifetime race chart!
Well, that's all I got. I'd like to thank all of your for all your support! I'd also like to thank my wife. Without you, days like today aren't possible. And there is NO WAY, I would have been able to drive myself back home with this leg issue. Or take care of the kid when I got home. Or make any food. Seriously, thanks! And of course to Gigi. She said "Don't worry Dad, I'll take care of you. The stars come out at night in the sky." Not sure what she meant by that, but maybe it means even when nothing seems to go right, there's always a bright side. Thanks G!
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