Weight on Columbus 2008 Race Day: 248lbs.
After two months of struggling to get back into some kind of shape I could finally run three miles non-stop. It wasn't a very fast three miles, maybe 11:00 a mile, but it was three miles nonetheless. It was May 2008, the weather was warming up, and I was beginning to like going out for runs. I had spent the last two months running pretty much the same path and distance around four times a week. Even though I was starting to enjoy my running I was starting to get a little bored. I felt I needed some sort of change or challenge to mix it up a little bit.
I had always knew I wanted to run a marathon at some point in my life. My father ran two marathons and tons of half-marathons. I remember him telling my brothers and me about them and how fascinating I thought it was. I also was very proud of my dad for a lot of his accomplishments and remember always telling my friends how he ran those marathons. I think it was then that I kind of put the idea of running a marathon somewhere in the back of my head. It was an "I will get to you when the time is time right" thought.
I felt the time could not have been more right than that May. I wanted a change in my running and a challenge, so what better than a marathon? I had no idea how to train for a marathon. I started scouring the Internet looking for training plans. I wound up at Hal Higdon's site. Hal Higdon is a veteran runner and former editor of Runner's World magazine. He has written several books on running and has developed some of the most widely used marathon (and races of other distances) training plans in the world.
I chose Higdon's Novice 1 marathon training program. It was the obvious choice because I was a true novice, but I really liked the fact that it was only four days of running a week and built the mileage up slowly. I still follow this program today adding extra runs here and there and tougher terrain. I am a bigger guy and feel that limiting my running to four or five days a week and not going crazy with the mileage has helped prevent injuries and preserve my joints for running well in to the future.
Higdon's plan was an 18 week training plan. I wanted to make sure I could find a race that wasn't horribly far from where I lived and that I had enough time to train for. Once again I hit up the Internet. I stumbled upon Marathon Guide. It has one of the most comprehensive lists of marathons on the web. I counted 18 weeks out from the current date and started looking at marathons around and after that date. The Columbus marathon seemed to be my best bet. I had friends I could stay with in Columbus, it was reasonably priced ($65 at the time I think), it was only 140 miles away from where I was living, and it fit my time frame for training.
The date of the marathon was Sunday, October 19th, 2008. That meant my training needed to start the week of June 15th. I spent the month of May getting used to the four days of the week I would be running on: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I pretty much ran three miles on each of those days for the month of May and part of June. Tuesday June 17th was my first official training run.
Over the next 18 weeks I slowly built up the mileage according to the plan. At first I struggled on some of the longer runs. During the first week of training the long run is six miles. I remember having to walk a few times on that run. I also remember that is was a pretty slow pace. As time moved on I started to get stronger and the runs started to get easier. I went from walking on a six miler to being able to run 12 miles straight without slowing. I eventually made it to week 15 of the program or the "Climax" week of the program. It was the week with the most amount of miles to run out of all 18 weeks, at 40 miles. The weekday runs were 5, 10, and 5 miles capped off by a weekend long run of 20 miles.
After I completed week 15 of training I had a three week taper until the race. Tapering is reducing the amount of miles you run per week slowly until race day to allow your body to be at full strength. (I have since learned that I do not like to taper for that long. I usually taper for two or less weeks now) During that time my anticipation for the race built up. I was nervous, but at the same time could not wait for the race. I had spent all those months training and I was ready to see if it had paid off.
My cousin Mike was also running his first marathon that day. We did a lot of our long training runs together. I use the term "together" loosely because Mike is much faster than I am. We started our long runs together and he would run out ahead. We did out and back runs so I would pass him as he was coming back in. I wasn't incredibly far behind him so he would wait the 15 or 20 minutes until I finished. We would then discuss how our runs went and go our separate ways for the day. I actually real liked it that way. I don't really like running with anyone on training runs. It is my time to myself when I am out there running. Time to clear my head and push my body's limits. So the start "together, split, pass each other, talk at the finish" routine was perfect. It felt good to know someone else was out there covering the mileage and nice to have someone to discuss the run with, but not actually have to run with that person the entire time.
Sunday, October 19, 2008 finally came. Weight: 249 lbs. It was a chilly morning, I think somewhere around 37 degrees. My parents had driven down to Columbus from Cleveland to watch my cousin and I me in the race. My parents, Mike and I met near my friend's house that morning and started walking toward the starting line. It was 6:55 in the morning and still pretty dark outside. There were tons of other people making their way to the starting line as well. The city was like a giant funnel and we were all spilling into the intersection of Third and Broad Street. As we made our way through the maze of tall buildings the noise level began to grow. We approached Broad street and could see thousands of runners lining up for the race. We squeezed our way through the sea of fans and runners and made it toward the back of the start.
Mike and I stretched as my mom took pictures. We were ready to go. There was a stage near the starting line where a rock band was playing. The music stopped and a voice came over the PA system. The announcer said we had five minutes until the start of the race. We stretched a little more and my parents wished us luck. The voice came back over the PA counting down from 10. When he reached zero a horn sounded and the race began. The mass of runners started to flow like water from a broken dam. I think there were around 15,000 runners that year. 12,000 running the half marathon and 3,000 running the full. Columbus has since increased their field size to 15,000 and 5,000. It is amazing to see that many people running at the same time.
The first few miles were crowded to say the least. Mike and I were constantly maneuvering around slower runners as faster runners maneuvered around us. We were also dodging loose clothing that had been discarded by other runners. This is a common practice at marathons in cool weather. Runners wear a layer of clothing to keep warm until the race starts and then throw it on the ground or off to the side of the course.I think in most cases the clothing is collected and donated to charity. The crowds of runners started to thin around three miles and it felt good to have a little bit of space.
Mike decided he was going to hang with me for a lot of the race even though I told him not to let me hold him back. We ran and passed people and people passed us. There were spectators everywhere on the streets. They would cheer as you ran by. Fans would yell out your race bib number to let you know they were cheering you on. A lot of runners put their names on their shirts so fans could yell a name instead of a number. I happened to have dread locks at the time so I got a lot of "Go Dreads Go!" types of cheers. There were also a lot of bands/musical acts along the way. As I ran by some of the bands I wondered if they played the same song or two over and over. I mean none of the runners would know they were only capable of playing one song. At my pace I heard maybe a minute of the song before they were out of earshot.
Eventually we were close to the halfway point, 13.1 miles. At around 12.9 miles or so the half marathoners started to peel off from the main road and head to the finish line. Hoards and hoards of runners went left toward the finish line as the few of us that remained kept going straight passing the 13.1 mile sign. I couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride as I passed that point knowing I was about to run the same distance all over again while the half marathoners went to eat, drink, and celebrate. The 13.1 mile mark always seemed a little too short for me. I wasn't very fast but I could run long so 26.2 just seemed like a better fit. As we passed the 13.1 mile mark we ran over the electronic pads that pick up the sensor in your timing chip. As we ran over the pad our names were displayed on a screen for a man to announce over a PA system along with our times. It felt good to be halfway.
We continued on. Everything seemed a little more quiet now that there were 12,000 less runners on the course. It was especially quiet when we ran through the Ohio State campus. I think most of the students were sleeping off whatever antics they got into the night before. It was fun running through the campus though. We ran right around and through the parking lot of the Horseshoe, the Ohio State Buckeyes' football stadium. It makes you feel awfully small when you run by a large structure like that. As we started to approach the 17 mile mark I began to feel my legs tighten up. It was much earlier in the race than I had hoped I would feel that. At around 18 miles I told mike I was going to walk for a second. He didn't feel like stopping and told me good luck and that he was going to try and stick with the four hour and thirty minute pace group that was right ahead of us.I bid him farewell and was on my own from there on out.
Even though my legs were a little tight I started running again and managed to get a little beyond the 20 mile mark before I took a walking break again. Passing the 20 mile mark was a big deal, everything after that point was further than I had ever run before. The longest run I did in training was 20 miles. For the next few miles I followed a "run with intermittent walking" type strategy. I was really starting to feel my legs tighten once I passed the 23 mile mark. The closer I got to the finish the more spectators there seemed to be. People knew that you were only a few miles from the finish and really wanted to cheer you on to help get you there.
23 - 25 miles was a rough time in the race. My legs were tight and every time I tried to pick up the pace I could feel my calves cramping. My calves were the worst part, I could feel them almost lock as they cramped and it was painful. I did a lot of walking during those two miles. I eventually made to the ever elusive 25 mile mark. It felt amazing knowing I only had a little over a mile until I was finished. I started to forget about the aches and pains and couldn't wait to cross that finish line. With about a half mile to go I passed a group a fans near a folding table. The table had a boom box on it and it was blasting the Marine Corps Hymn. As a former active duty Marine it was just what I needed to pump me up for my last half mile. I picked up the pace and came around the corner of a park and back onto the main road. There were fans everywhere. They were lining both sides of the streets and going crazy.
I had about three tenths of a mile to go and started to really pick up the pace. I wanted to finish strong and also look good in front of all of those people. As I started to pick up the pace I looked to the right and saw my parents cheering me one. My dad and mom were there holding signs my mom had made for my cousin and me. The one read "Go Justin, Wrestler, Machine Gunner, Marathoner!". My dad had the biggest smile on his face. I think he was partially reliving the marathons he had once run. I couldn't have been happier when I saw them there cheering me own. I rounded the corner and started down the small strip toward the finish line. I could just make out the clock at the finish line, it was around a tenth of a mile away.
As I was running toward the finish I started to pass a taller man. I looked at him as I passed and realized that it was my boss from when I had framed houses back in high school. I turned and said "Corey?!!". He said "What's up dude? How you been?" I replied, "Pretty good just trying to finish this race. I am definitely not gonna let you beat me. I will see you at the finish." I sprinted ahead and a crossed the finish line. It was a great feeling, one I will remember for the rest of my life. It had taken me four hours forty-one minutes and thirty-three seconds to cover the 26.2 miles. My cousin Mike ended up staying with the pace group and finished 11 minutes ahead of me at 4:30.
As I caught my breath a volunteer hung a medal around my neck and congratulated me. I walked ahead through the fenced in area and saw the tables of food and drink ahead. It looked amazing. They had recovery drinks, fruit, bagels, milk, and a ton of other things. I took what I could and chowed down. It was delicious. There were people all over the place. Runners were taking pictures with their friends and family. A reggae band was playing a large stage in the finishing area. It was kind of fitting considering my hairstyle at the time. As I walked to meet my parents I was thinking how a lot of people I had talked to about running before the marathon said they had run one marathon and would never do it again. I mean I was fatigued but I knew there was no way that would be my first and last marathon. I was hooked and could not wait to do another one.
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